Ticket sales soar for outdoor plays

Ticket sales for Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility have already reached 100, double the figure at this stage last year, three weeks before the performance.

Stringers department store and Homelife in Lytham, along with Waterstones Bookshops in Blackpool and Preston, have been added to the list of ticket outlets, bringing the total to 14 and all are reporting plenty of interest.

After the Chapterhouse Theatre company comes to town with Sense and Sensibility on Friday, June 13, the season also comprises performances by the Illyria company of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance on Sunday, July 6, Shakespeare’s Macbeth on Tuesday, July 15 and Roald Dahl children’s favourite George’s Marvellous Medicine on Sunday, August 24.

Julian Wilde, organiser of the outdoor season, said: “I think it’s important to provide plenty of convenient local ticket points. Sales are going extremely well– around double what they were at the same stage last year – and I think we are in for a successful season once again.” Pat Booth of ticket outlet Plackitt and Booth’s bookshop in Clifton Street, Lytham, added: “The early part of May is when people really start thinking about those long summer evenings. I have been very pleased with the number of customers coming in to the shop to buy tickets – certainly more than last year at this stage.”

Tickets are available by visiting ticket stockists or by calling Lytham Hall on (01253) 736652 or visiting www.illyria.uk.com or www.chapterhouse.org.