9 things you didn’t know about Dartford’s Orchard Theatre

The theatre has started to offer tea and tour packages where you get to take a fascinating in-depth look around the venue with a knowledgeable guide, followed by a tasty afternoon tea.

Along the way, you’ll pick up some cool titbits about The Orchard. Here’s some things we learnt:

• The Orchard was built, largely from council money, in 1982.

• The first show was a gala performance hosted by Are You Being Served?’s John Inman.
• HQ Theatres took over the running of the theatre on a 20-year lease in 2009.
• Though it was originally designed to hold 1,200, its capacity is 956 seats. Being just under 1,000 can actually be a bit of a pain when it comes to booking bigger acts and shows.

• The seats in the auditorium fold back and move out, meaning it is possible to have one large flat-level space from the back of the stage to where the audience enter. It takes six men about four hours to move the seats out and this format is used for functions such as banquets (for around 250 people) and discos for nearly 1,000.
• The first pantomime at The Orchard was Aladdin in 1982, starring Bernie Winters and his St Bernard dog Schnorbitz.

The Orchard's hospitality general manager Anna Marie Lambert leads a tour of the theatre

• The Orchard employs around 35 permanent staff, 120 casuals and 200 volunteers. All of the ushers are volunteers.
• There are 14 dressing rooms, including four big ones in the basement often used by show choruses and four upstairs. Dressing room one has no special perks.

• When Cinderella was at The Orchard two years ago, the two ponies in the cast had temporary stables just off-stage. There were occasions when the ponies were stuck in traffic and the shows had to be delayed.

Book your tour at orchardtheatre.com or call 01322 220000.