Cinderella reopens the Orchard Theatre on 12 December with Joe Pasquale. All 38 performances, the cheapest seat at each, and the four access dates.

Dartford’s pantomime this year is Cinderella, and it is doing double duty: it reopens the Orchard Theatre after a long closure for RAAC removal. It runs from Saturday 12 December 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027, and the cheapest seats are £21.50, available at only four of the 38 performances. (Trafalgar Tickets)

Joe Pasquale heads the cast. He is joined by Keith Jack as Prince Charming, Ben Goffe as Buttons, Gareth Mitchell and Garnon Davies as the stepsisters Phyxie and Connie, and Vanessa Dumatey as the Fairy Godmother. The producer is Imagine Theatre. (Imagine Theatre)

It runs about 125 minutes including a 20 minute interval and is billed as suitable for ages three and up.

Every performance, and the cheapest seat at each

Prices below are the lowest-priced seat at each performance, read from the booking page’s own structured data on 3 September 2026. They are not the only price at that performance: better seats cost more, and these figures do not include any per-order fee the box office may add. All dates are 2026 except the last two, which are January 2027.

Cinderella at the Orchard Theatre, Dartford: all 38 performances
DateTimeCheapest seatNotes
Sat 12 Dec2pm£37
Sat 12 Dec7pm£21.50
Sun 13 Dec1pm£37
Sun 13 Dec5pm£21.50
Wed 16 Dec2pm£37schools rate
Wed 16 Dec7pm£37
Thu 17 Dec10am£37relaxed, schools rate
Thu 17 Dec2pm£37schools rate
Thu 17 Dec6pm£21.50
Sat 19 Dec11am£21.50chilled
Sat 19 Dec3pm£47
Sat 19 Dec7pm£47
Sun 20 Dec1pm£47
Sun 20 Dec5pm£47
Mon 21 Dec1pm£42
Mon 21 Dec5pm£42concession named
Tue 22 Dec1pm£42
Tue 22 Dec5pm£42concession named
Wed 23 Dec1pm£42
Wed 23 Dec5pm£42concession named
Thu 24 Dec1pm£47
Thu 24 Dec5pm£47
Sat 26 Dec1pm£42
Sat 26 Dec5pm£42
Sun 27 Dec1pm£42
Sun 27 Dec5pm£42concession named
Mon 28 Dec1pm£37audio described
Mon 28 Dec5pm£37signed (BSL)
Tue 29 Dec1pm£42
Tue 29 Dec5pm£42concession named
Wed 30 Dec1pm£37
Wed 30 Dec5pm£42concession named
Thu 31 Dec1pm£42concession named
Thu 31 Dec5pm£37
Sat 2 Jan1pm£42
Sat 2 Jan5pm£42
Sun 3 Jan1pm£42
Sun 3 Jan5pm£37

There are no performances on 14, 15, 18 and 25 December, or on 1 January. Christmas Eve has two, Boxing Day has two, and New Year’s Eve has two. The dark Friday 18 December is the odd one: it sits between the opening week and the busiest weekend of the run, and it is the theatre’s own schedule rather than a gap in our reading of it.

Where the money is

Four price levels run through the schedule: £21.50, £37, £42 and £47 for the cheapest seat.

  • The four £21.50 shows are Sat 12 Dec 7pm, Sun 13 Dec 5pm, Thu 17 Dec 6pm and Sat 19 Dec 11am. Three of them are evening shows in the opening week, which is the usual panto pattern.
  • Saturday 19 December is the split day. Its 11am show is the cheapest in the run at £21.50; the 3pm and 7pm shows on the same day are the most expensive at £47.
  • The £47 shows are the weekend of 19 and 20 December, plus Christmas Eve. Six performances in total.
  • Boxing Day is not the peak. Both 26 December shows start at £42, £5 below Christmas Eve.
  • The cheapest seats after Christmas are Mon 28 December (both shows £37), Wed 30 December 1pm, Thu 31 December 5pm and Sun 3 January 5pm.

Discounts, and the trap in the concession list

The theatre publishes four discount schemes. The wording below is its own.

Concessions: “Save £2 per ticket.” Valid for under 16s, over 60s, students and the unemployed, “subject to availability. ID may be required.” The concession applies to all Value and Standard performances, plus seven named performances at the busier price:

  • Mon 21 Dec 5pm, Tue 22 Dec 5pm, Wed 23 Dec 5pm, Sun 27 Dec 5pm, Tue 29 Dec 5pm, Wed 30 Dec 5pm and Thu 31 Dec 1pm.

That list is worth reading twice. On 21, 22, 23, 27 and 29 December the 1pm matinee costs the same £42 as the 5pm show but is not on the concession list, so the same discount only works on the later performance. Boxing Day and the 2 and 3 January matinees, also £42, are not named at all.

Family of 4 ticket. Requires a minimum of two under 16s, and is valid on the same set of performances as the concession.

Groups. Specific rates for groups of 10+, 20+ and 40+, and for youth and PTA groups of 10+, “valid on Value and Standard performances only”. Group bookings go through the enquiry form or 0343 310 0077, and the theatre notes that “seat restrictions may apply” and that group discounts cannot be combined with any other discount.

Schools: £16 per student, and a free teacher for every 10 students booked. Available on three performances only, which the theatre names: Wed 16 Dec 2pm, Thu 17 Dec 10am and Thu 17 Dec 2pm. Booking is by phone on 0343 310 0077.

Priority Live members get £2 off per ticket, “valid on all seats for opening weekend and all Value performances”. Membership costs £45 a year across all Trafalgar venues, so on this show alone it only pays for itself on a large booking.

Access performances

Four performances are adapted, and the producer publishes them rather than the booking page. Imagine Theatre lists them under the heading “Orchard West (Dartford)” even though Cinderella is billed at the Orchard Theatre, so expect the venue label to be tidied up. (Imagine Theatre)

Cinderella access performances, Dartford
TypeDate and timeCheapest seat
RelaxedThu 17 Dec, 10am£37
ChilledSat 19 Dec, 11am£21.50
Audio describedMon 28 Dec, 1pm£37
Signed (BSL)Mon 28 Dec, 5pm£37

The chilled performance on 19 December is also one of the four cheapest shows in the run, which is unusual: adapted performances are often mid-week and mid-price. Imagine’s own page asks audiences to “confirm these dates with the theatre prior to booking”, so call the box office on 0343 310 0033 before you commit.

There is no captioned performance in the published list.

Why this panto is also a reopening

The Orchard has been closed while the council removed reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete from its roof, and Cinderella is the first show back. Dartford Borough Council approved a capital budget of up to £11.6m in January to finish the work, and planned a phased handover to the operator at the end of November. Our full account is in Orchard Theatre reopens 12 December with Cinderella.

One sign of how recent all this is: Trafalgar’s own visitor page still carried the line that the “Orchard Theatre is currently closed while essential works are completed”, checked on 3 September.

Booking, getting there and parking

Tickets are sold by the venue through Trafalgar Tickets. The box office number is 0343 310 0033; group and schools bookings use 0343 310 0077.

Check the address on your ticket before you set off. Trafalgar’s booking system files the Orchard Theatre and Orchard West under a single venue record at 20-54 Hythe Street, DA1 1BX, and that is the only address its Your Visit page gives. DA1 1BX is also the address Dartford Borough Council uses for Orchard West, the temporary venue, in its own events listings. The Orchard Theatre itself is usually addressed at Home Gardens. If you are following a satnav, check the building name on the night rather than trusting the postcode.

Both are a short walk from Dartford station. Council car parks in the centre mostly charge £1 for two hours, and Cranford Road gives two hours free Monday to Saturday, which is tight for a two-hour show plus interval. Every tariff, and where the longer stays are, is on our Dartford parking page.

Check our roadworks and travel page in the week you are going, particularly if you are driving in over the Dartford Crossing.

Other festive things on in Dartford

  • The Big Christmas Switch On is Saturday 14 November in Brewery Square, free, 11am to 6.30pm: details and the rest of the calendar.
  • The bonfire and fireworks in Central Park are run by Dartford Lions Club, and the 2026 date is not out yet: what we know.
  • Winterland and the ice rink return to Bluewater from 7 November: the approved dates.

Prices and performance details were correct on 3 September 2026 and can change. Confirm on the booking page before you pay.