Beatrice and Eugenie the Ugly Sisters? Oh no, they're not... Row as 'cruel' Cinderella panto names its comedy characters after royal siblings

By GAVIN ALLEN

Ugly sisters: The production of Cinderella at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury has attracted criticism for renaming the traditional roles played by Michael Batchelor and Ian Smith, Beatrice and Eugenie

In pantomime lore, the two Ugly Sisters share a taste for garish clothes and a love of the high life.
But calling them Beatrice and Eugenie may have been a step too far.
A production of Cinderella, playing at Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, has attracted complaints over the ‘cheap joke’ of naming the sisters after the Duke of York’s daughters.

Writing in the Kentish Gazette, Bob Britnell, a senior planning officer at Canterbury City Council, said: 'Looking at their photos, they don't seem ugly, just two pretty, ordinary girls who get on with their lives without courting celebrity, so why mock them?
'Sadly there are plenty of people out there willing to mock others for no good reason.

Just a joke: The pair in action in Cinderella

Mr Britnell, of Canterbury, said he would not be going to see Cinderella at the Marlowe Theatre because of the 'cheap joke'.
But show producer Paul Hendy, who also wrote and directs the pantomime, said Mr Britnell had been 'misinformed' and it was a pity he's written to complain without actually seeing the production.

Princesses of York: Eugenie (L) and Beatrice (R) were flamboyantly dressed at the wedding ceremony of Prince William and Kate Middleton

'As a Royalist myself, I can guarantee there are no derogatory jokes about our royal family.
'In our production, our 'sisters' wear fantastically outrageous and lavish costumes and the joke is more of a reference to the self-confessed unusual fashion sense of the sisters' royal namesakes.'
'In pantomime, there is a long tradition of using the names of famous people who have been in the public eye that year.

The pantomime is being showing at the Marlowe Theatre, pictured

'The real Beatrice and Eugenie famously have a wonderful sense of humour and I'm sure they would find this highly amusing.
'I firmly believe that pantomime should have a slightly satirical edge and gently poke fun at the great and the good.
'It is the broad range of humour that makes pantomime so uniquely British.
'More than 70,000 people have seen the show and we have been inundated with e-mails and letters saying how much people have enjoyed it.

source: dailymail