The Hazlitt Theatre is one of the main theatres in Maidstone

Maidstone

Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

. It was named after William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt was an English writer, remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, and as a grammarian and philosopher. He is now considered one of the great critics and essayists of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. Yet his work is...

, the famous essayist, who was born in Maidstone in 1778. It opened in 1955 http://www.localhistories.org/maidstone.html. It presents a varied programme of professional drama, comedy, music etc. as well as local community theatre groups. This traditional proscenium arch theatre seats 353. The sister venue, The Exchange, is a multi-purpose venue suiting a variety of events from theatre or dancing to conferences.

Hazlitt Youth Theatre

The Hazlitt Theatre is home to the Hazlitt Youth Theatre (HYT), who have performed a string of hit shows including plays, musicals, new writing, partnership projects, touring shows and a whole lot more! HYT provides opportunities for young people aged between 6 and 18 to put on productions, and to go and see professional plays. Being in a theatre such as The Hazlitt allows members to gain experience of all areas of theatre, and many members go on to study theatre-related courses at universities around the country.
The Youth Theatre's most recent productions were The Baker's Wife

The Baker's Wife

The Baker's Wife is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and the book by Joseph Stein, based on the French film La Femme du Boulanger by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono...

the musical by Stephen Schwartz

Stephen Schwartz (composer)

Stephen Lawrence Schwartz is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over four decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as Godspell , Pippin and Wicked...

 and Joseph Stein

Joseph Stein

Joseph Stein was an American playwright best known for writing the books for such musicals as Fiddler on the Roof and Zorba.-Biography:...

 and 'The Lost Christmas' by Lawrence Mark Whyte. All their productions are well received by the audiences.
The most recent musical performed by the Hazlitt Youth Theatre was '13' in October 2010. This was again well received by the audience.
The Hazlitt Youth Theatre also write new plays which include - 'House of Horrors' 2011 a play that combined urban legends and ghost stories. Another piece called 'Intense' 2011, a comedy about a group of young people trapped inside three tents due to an alien invasion.

Regular Performers

• Stage Theatre Society
• Prima Stage School of Performing Arts
• The Marlin School of Dance
• Mandy Ellen School of Dance (from Britains Got Talent fame)
• Maidstone Operatics
• Hilton Hall Dance Academy
• Willington Players
• European Arts Company
• Maidstone Scout Gang Show

Other Maidstone theatres

Other theatres in Maidstone include:

• The Exchange Studio (previosuly known as The Corn Exchange)
• The Fourth Wall
• Whatman Park Riverstage
• Hermitage Millennium Amphitheatre

External links

• Hazlitt Arts Centre