Coventry panto suspended after Covid outbreak among cast and crew

Performances of a pantomime at a theatre in Coventry have been suspended due to an outbreak of coronavirus.

Live shows of Beauty And The Beast at the Belgrade Theatre will not be able to restart until at least December 18 after a number of performers and crew tested positive.

The Belgrade Theatre said: "Despite extremely robust safety measures being in place and the back-up of understudy actors, we're incredibly sad to say that some of our panto company have recently tested positive for Covid.

"This means that we have to suspend live performances and we know we will not be able to restart live performances of Beauty And The Beast until Saturday December 18 at the earliest."

The theatre said ticket-holders for the affected performances of the panto, which depicts the unlikely romance between a cursed beast and his warm-hearted prisoner, are being contacted.

It added: "Knowing this would always be a risk during the ongoing pandemic, we have taken the precaution of creating a professionally filmed version of our Beauty And The Beast production.

"We intend to screen this filmed version to audiences at the theatre from Friday December 10 in place of the planned live performances."

All other performances, including Santa's Magical Mystery Guest and A Christmas Carol, will go ahead as planned at the theatre.

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