WEST SIDE STORY

Our production of West Side Story was in many ways a real turning point for the company. We learned more songs and used more dialogue than we had done in any of our previous shows. The biggest advance, however, was our decision to use Darlington Civic Theatre for the first time. Darlington Civic is a very large and prestigious venue and we were uncertain if we would be able to sell enough tickets to justify our performance.

We pulled out the throttle on our publicity machine and spent several weekends handing out leaflets in several Darlington supermarkets. We were hugely relieved that we managed to sell over six hundred tickets and receive a standing ovation from an audience that, until that evening, had not seen our work. Our performers really rose to the occasion and gave the performance of their lives making West Side Story our most successful, enjoyable and professional performance to date.