The Trial of Dennis the Menace: More Details

By John Freeman on February 3, 2012

We mentioned this before as part of a longer post but it is worth mentioning again by itself. The new children’s musical The Trial of Dennis the Menace will be taking place in London’s Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room over the weekend of 17-19th February as part of the Imagine Children’s Festival.

The play is written by Caroline Bird with original music by Matt Rogers and was commissioned by Southbank Centre, with The Sage Gateshead and Juice Festival, and Glasgow UNESCO City of Music, supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

It is recommended for ages seven and over and is described as “An hour of music, words and action for Beano-lovers big and small. Beanotown is in crisis. Who stole the mayor’s gold chain? Someone is trying to put the blame on Dennis and the grownups of Beanotown are declaring war on fun. We say the kids aren’t guilty! Who’s on their side? Children unite!”

Date and times are as follows –

Friday 17 February 2012 – 2.30pm
Saturday 18 February 2012, – 2.45pm & 5.00pm
Sunday 19 February 2012 – 1.30pm & 4.00pm

Ticket costs are as follows –

Prices: £12 (adults) £6 (children)
Booking Fee: £1.75 (Members £0.00)
Concessions: 50% off (limited availability)

• There are more details of the musical and how to book tickets on the South Bank Centre’s website

• There is a short interview with the star of the musical on the Beano’s website.

The Beano © DC Thomson & Co Ltd

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.