Darlington Theatre Town, a new initiative to bring the most ambitious and high quality theatre to Darlington, launched on 22 May with a performance of Not Too Tame Theatre’s production of Early Doors, a celebration of pubs and pub culture, at The Hole in the Wall in Horsemarket.
The Darlington Theatre Town project, which is funded by the Arts Council and Darlington Borough Council, grew from the opportunity presented by the redevelopment of the Civic Theatre (which will re-open under its original name, Darlington Hippodrome, this Autumn), the development of Theatre Hullabaloo’s new theatre for young audiences which also opens this autumn) and the momentum that has built over the last couple of years by Jabberwocky Market which organises small-scale theatre events which pop up in various—often unexpected—venues.
Creative Darlington (a confederation of 38 organisations and individual artists), Darlington Hippodrome, Luxi (which aims to advance education and participation in the arts through multidisciplinary performance or projects), children’s theatre producers Theatre Hullabaloo and theatre company ODDMANOUT are the partners with the Town Council and ACE in this initiative.