The flops: Old faces hold up, but others struggle

FESTIVAL City Theatres Trust coffers have been boosted by the huge success of the recent festive pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, which saw comic Andy Gray reunited with panto dame Allan Stewart for the first time in several years. The show ran until late January.

But despite that success, the trust's ticket sales for the current financial year are believed to be about 15 per cent down on the previous 12 months.

Although the trust would not release box-office figures yesterday, poor-performing shows in recent months are believed to include The Secret Garden at the Festival Theatre, and Enron, Lark Rise To Candleford and Bedroom Farce at the King's.

The Broadway adaptation of The Secret Garden, the big Christmas show at the Festival Theatre, had been billed as one of the highlights of the year, with a cast including Taggart star Siobhan Redmond, one of Scotland's best-known stage performers.

However, bad weather hampered the show throughout its month-long run, with takings slumping from about 10,000 a day to just a few hundred pounds.

Sara Crowe, Jonathan Ansell and Christopher Beeny were among the famous faces in Lark Rise To Candleford, while the cast of Bedroom Farce included the likes of Maxwell Caulfield, Juliet Mills and Clare Wilkie.