A Glasgow actor has landed a lead role in a Beauty and the Beast pantomime, which has been given a 'South-Asian twist'. Iman Akhtar will be playing Princess Belle - who has had a name change - in a hilarious panto that is set to brace the UK this Christmas and New Year.
She told Glasgow Live: "It really is the same role as it would be in any other Beauty and the Beast pantomime but it just has that South Asian/Muslim twist to it. "My family are so happy and my cousins are excited that they will get to see a Muslim panto and I will be the one up there on stage." Hoping to make acting her full-time career, she added: "I am so excited to be getting back to something similar that I have done before but with a big twist and a completely different family of people.
"I am going to be using my own accent so am excited to see how audiences react to seeing a Scottish voice on stage. Audiences can expect to leave with a sore stomach because they will be laughing so hard."Everyone in the cast is Muslim and it goes to show how many talented Muslim actors we have in this country. When you look at our media, we really are not reflected in that which is why a show like this is really important.