A quick construction means that Orchard West should be ready for performances of Beauty and the Beast on the ninth of December.
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00:00 It may not look like much now, but by the beginning of next month, crowds of up to 1,000
00:05 people will gather here at Dartford to watch a classic Christmas pantomime.
00:09 Back in September, the Orchard Theatre was shut down for a year after the unsafe crumbly
00:14 racked concrete was found in its roof.
00:17 But Dartford Borough Council and venue operator Trafalgar Theatres have been hard at work
00:22 making sure there's a fairy tale ending to the closure, with the temporary Orchard West
00:27 venue on Hove Street set to ensure this year's Beauty and the Beast will go to the ball.
00:31 This is an extremely important part of Dartford and Kent's annual programme.
00:39 The production is going to be unique and created specifically for Orchard West, so you're going
00:45 to get a really great, vibrant, new, fresh set.
00:52 We've got an incredible array of lighting and sound equipment coming into Orchard West,
00:58 so it's going to be state of the art.
01:01 But what do the cast think?
01:03 Always wanted to do Dartford because I'm a Gravesend boy, so I'm caught in dodgy territory.
01:09 I don't know if they're going to love me or if they're going to hate me, but I've always
01:12 wanted to perform Dartford and obviously this new venue is going to be an amazing, state
01:16 of the art, fresh thing to do, so yeah, it's exciting.
01:19 I am looking forward to Dartford.
01:20 I've done the Orchard Theatre, I've never done Orchard West, obviously, nobody has yet,
01:25 but I've done the Orchard Theatre quite a few times when I've been touring with a good
01:29 friend of mine, Tim Vine, so I've supported him on tour and we've done the Orchard lots
01:33 of times, so we love Dartford, we love the audiences here.
01:36 It's my first win in Dartford, yes, so I'm very, very excited to be here and really thrilled
01:40 that it's going ahead.
01:41 I'm excited about the new venue, can't wait, can't wait to see it, yeah, very excited about
01:45 that.
01:46 But with the play set to start on the 9th December and run until the end of the month,
01:50 time is of the essence if they want the happily ever after.
01:53 Oliver "Leader" The Saxe, for KMTV.