A 'deliciously dark' set of stories is heading to the Barn Theatre in Welwyn Garden City this month.

Philip Pullman's adaptation of Grimm Tales offers an alternative to the typical pantomime Christmas cheer.

In this production audiences will encounter some familiar stories - Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel and Rapunzel - along with some unexpected ones, such as Thousandfeathers, Goose Girl at the Spring and Three Little Men in the Woods.

Performances take place at 8pm from December 15 to December 23, with a matinée performance at 2.30pm on the final day.

Tickets are available at https://www.barntheatre.co.uk/whats-on/.

Director Simon Wallace said: "I’ve always loved the Grimm Tales, especially in their original fabulously grotesque form.

"We have opted to keep their original dark style.

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"However, whilst we don’t steer away from the more gross elements of these stories, we are going to present them in a fairly black comedic manner; it’s as though Tim Burton met traditional pantomime in a dark forest!"

The Grimm Tales were first performed as an immersive storytelling experience underneath Shoreditch Town Hall in London in 2014.

Simon added: "It has taken a leap of faith from the performers, who were simply cast as an ensemble of storytellers without knowing what that meant in terms of characters and lines, and to say they have embraced it completely would be an understatement."