EMMA Rice, acclaimed former artistic director of Kneehigh Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe, brings her Frome-based Emma Rice Company in her own adaptation and production of Malory Towers, to Bath Theatre Royal from Friday 1st to Saturday 9th May, ahead of a national tour.

First staged in Bristol in 2019, this brilliant staging of a favourite Enid Blyton story – described as “the original Girl Power story” – combines high jinks, high drama and high spirits with live music, in a classic school story.

Darrell Rivers is starting school with an eager mind and fierce heart. Unfortunately, she also has a quick temper! Can she learn to tolerate the infuriating Gwendoline Lacey, or value the kind-hearted Sally Hope? Can she save the school play and rescue terrified Mary Lou from the grip of a raging storm? If she can do these things anywhere, she will do them at Malory Towers!

Emma Rice says: “Malory Towers is an enduring passion for me! Inspired by my gran, mum and all the magnificent women of the wartime generations, I have loved bringing these intoxicating characters and tales up to date with love, song and laughter. However, like the school itself, this sparkling production needs to be filled with new personalities.

“The class of 2026 is filled with fresh, fierce and joyful talent – and I cannot wait to see what they bring to Miss Grayling, Malory Towers and me. Here’s to ‘Good strong women that the world can lean on’. My, in these terrifying and divided times we need that more than ever, don’t we?”

The cast includes Eden Barrie as Mary Lou Atkinson, Molly Cheesley as Alicia Johns, Rebecca Collingwood as Gwendolyn Lacey, Stephanie Hockley as Irene DuPont, Emily Panes as Musician, Robyn Sinclair as Darrell Rivers, Bethany Wooding as Sally Hope and Zoe West as Bill Robinson.

Led by Emma Rice, the creative team includes set and costume designer Lez Brotherston, composer Ian Ross, lighting designer Malcolm Rippeth, sound and video designer Simon Baker and choreographer Alistair David.