Last weekend seven Kent Theatres joined forces at the Kent County Show to promote their individual summer seasons and highlight the range of great family shows on offer across Kent this summer and autumn.
Visitors to the show were encouraged to dress up in an array of costumes including a chain of armour costume from Horrible Histories, heading to The Orchard Theatre, Dartford this July, and a dressing up chest of costumes from past performances at The Stag, Sevenoaks.
Alongside this there were various colouring competitions, ‘guess the name’ of Calamity’s cuddly horse, a mini performance by The Woodville’s Youth Theatre Company and performances by the City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra. Visitors on Sunday may have spied the PLAY Margate Cos Players causing havoc around the show, especially in the BBC South East Dome.
The shared stand was suggested and agreed by the Kent Theatre Marketing Managers Association (KTMMA), the association was set up in 2013 by Neil Chandler while he was manager of The Woodville, for Kent theatres to work together on coordinated programming, marketing and networking activities.
Cheri Strudwick, Marketing & Development Manager at the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells said ‘As a theatre we had never exhibited at the Kent County Show before, when it was suggested to have a joint theatre stand, with all seven theatres working together, we immediately agreed. I hope the show enabled regular theatre attendees to see the breadth of shows available across Kent and encouraged new audiences by showing that there really is something for everyone.’
Mandy Hare – Kent Family Arts Network co-ordinator and Manager Woodville Theatre – ‘It was wonderful that all these great organisations worked together to create a really exciting stand for the county show, it was a real testament to a growing culture of partnership working that I hope we can build upon over the next few years.’
