News: GO WEST! The Orchard West Theatre is Now Open

 


On Saturday 9th December Orchard West in Dartford opened its doors to the public for the very first time.

Dartford Borough Council (DBC) and Trafalgar Theatres constructed a state-of-the-art temporary theatre venue in Dartford following concerns over RAAC concrete in The Orchard Theatre’s roof, which forced the venue to close in September. Construction began on 30th October and took just 6 weeks to complete, saving pantomime for Dartford theatregoers.

Orchard West is a fully-functional, temporary, enclosed performance space with 1,000 seats – complete with comfortable seating, heating and cooling systems, access provision and full backstage and front-of-house facilities including indoor toilets and bars.

On the night, audience members were quoted saying,

“I can’t believe they built this in just six weeks, it’s stunning”

“The bathrooms are very nice, not what I expected.”

“…you would never have known you were in a temporary structure once inside the main house.”

“We were all a bit anxious about the venue but a pleasant surprise to find everything so lovely”

 

Photo credit: Danny with a Camera

The first performance of pantomime Beauty and the Beast took place at 12pm on Saturday 9th December with a second gala performance at 7pm. 

Shona McGarty leads the line-up of Dartford’s annual panto playing the title role of Belle. She will be joined by Britain's Got Talent semi-finalist John Archer as Belle’s Father, fellow EastEnders actor Harry Reid as Silly Billy, and Musical Theatre performers Emma Jay Thomas as the Enchantress and Tom Senior as Flash Harry.

Tickets available here: https://orchardtheatre.co.uk/Online/tickets-beauty-and-the-beast-dartford-2023

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: REBECCA at The Charing Cross Theatre, London

Image
  Tickets: Gifted Date: 18th September 2023 Seat: G3 Rating: 3 Stars From the first chilling note to the final fiery scene, Rebecca is an all-out melodrama, complete with sinister plots, a soaring score, and characters that wouldn’t look out of place in a panto – but that’s all part of its charm. It’s an over-the-top, entirely gorgeous piece of outlandish theatre, and I absolutely loved it. Although, that’s not to say there aren’t a few issues.  One of the biggest problems with Rebecca is that something seems to have been a little lost in translation. The story still makes sense (although perhaps knowing the Daphne du Maurier novel or the 1940 Hitchcock adaptation with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine does help with that), but some of the lyrics just seem too on the nose, or just not clever enough to be memorable. Perhaps the original German gives a different feeling, but in English, there are a few moments that get lost and aren’t as strong as they might be.  Plus, this musical is
Read more

Review: BRONCO BILLY at The Charing Cross Theatre, London

Image
Photo credit: The Other Richard Date: 31st January 2024 Seat: M6 (Stalls) Tickets: Gifted Rating: 3 Stars  Adapting older movies into musicals seems to be a trend these days, some with better results than others, and Bronco Billy , with a book by Dennis Hackin and music and lyrics by Chip Rosenbloom and John Torres (with additional lyrics by Michele Brourman), is one of the better ones – if anything, it’s improved the film and made it a lot more enjoyable for everyone, which is something every audience member is sure to appreciate.  The main word that can be used to describe Bronco Billy is fun. It’s wild and wacky and loud and bright, and there are some wonderful characters and some lovely songs, but really when you leave, it’s the fun you’ve had that stays with you, and that’s no bad thing – if you’re feeling a bit down because January lasted for sixty billion months and you need a quick pick-me-up, Bronco Billy might just do the trick.  The story is about a travelling circus of mi
Read more

Review: SLEEPING BEAUTY at The Hawth, Crawley

Image
Date: 9th December 2023  Seat: L3 (Stalls) Tickets: Gifted Rating: 5 Stars  You can’t get much more classic than Sleeping Beauty when it comes to the annual panto, and at The Hawth in Crawley this year, it’s this story that takes centre stage – but don’t worry if you think you’ve seen it all before; there are some fantastic surprises in store, including some rather impressive prehistoric pets, fire performers, and plenty of musical theatre references throughout.  Why musical theatre? Because two of the panto’s stars are West End performers with some notable credits to their names – that’s Carrie Hope Fletcher (who plays Carrie-Bosse) from such shows as Les Miserables and Heathers , and Scott Paige (The Good Spirit Moonbeam), who’s starred in The Great British Bake Off Musical and The Addams Family . Add to that some wholesomeness from Andy Day, a CBeebies presenter every child (and parent) in the audience is sure to know, and you’ve got the ingredients for a fantastic show.  Fletcher
Read more