The Hawth Crawley enjoyed another great year offering fantastic entertainment to over 160,000 people not only at the theatre but also across the area at Tilgate Park, Goffs Park, Worth Park Gardens, Crawley Library and even Crawley Amateur Boxing Club.
There were certainly laughs aplenty as over 4000 people enjoyed hilarious comedy in both the Theatre and the Studio throughout the year from the likes of Bradley Walsh, Jimmy Carr and Joe Pasquale. Another well known name who wowed sell-out audiences for a whole week was illusionist Derren Brown, with his mind bending show, Enigma.
Other sell out performances for 2010 included Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, A Tribute to Tommy Dorsey, Essence of Ireland, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Jane McDonald, Charlie and Lola and Peppa Pig and when The Proclaimers performed for a packed house in June The Hawth was even host to a marriage proposal during the concert.
Under 26s got to enjoy many of these shows and more for free as The Hawth successfully completed its second and final year of the Arts Council’s free ticket scheme, A Night Less Ordinary. In 2010 over 2000 young people were able to try out new theatrical experiences as part of the initiative and with the scheme running until February there is still a little time to take advantage and plans are already underway for the theatre to continue offering great offers and discounts to under 26s this year.
Further success with Arts Council England came last year when the Theatre secured a grant of £99,999 supported by the National Lottery to develop and promote Going Global, an audience development programme designed to offer audiences culturally diverse and international work in Crawley over the next two years. Audiences can already look forward to dance from Stepping Out East, clowning fun for all the family in Plastic Fantastic, The Shaolin Warriors and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
In May, The Hawth and the South Asian Arts Ambassadors put on Crawley’s first ever Asian Film Festival, with hundreds of people enjoying free screenings of three films at venues across Crawley. After the success in 2010 watch this space for news on the next film festival.
The year was brought to the perfect close by The Hawth’s FAB-U-LOUS pantomime, Snow White starring Craig Revel Horwood. Over 25,000 people were enchanted by the
‘fantast-maglorious show’(The Stage) leaving everyone very excited to see what next year brings when Peter Pan flies into action.
Lee Mead
Thank you to everyone who visited in 2010 and made the year such a great one, we hope you enjoyed it and here’s to bringing you lots more great live entertainment, exhibitions, talks, fairs and films this year! It looks like the next year is set to impress audiences once again, as Jimmy Carr and Milton Jones have already sold out and tickets are selling fast for Lee Mead, Flawless, Calendar Girls and Dom Joly – book now!
