DARLINGTON Borough Council has defended itself against claims that shows at the revamped Hippodrome have been dumbed down to fill seats.

Officers said they were delighted by audience numbers since last November’s reopening and by the boost given by the adjacent Hullabaloo theatre.

Members of the place scrutiny committee heard that alongside work to creatively explore Darlington’s railway heritage and efforts to bolster the Tees Valley UK City of Culture bid, Creative Darlington had recommended prioritising a push towards the town being recognised for its theatre offering.

A Creative Darlington report stated that with the opening of the Hippodrome and Hullabaloo theatres, Darlington had made considerable progress towards its “theatre town” ambition. It was committed to work with Theatre Hullabaloo from 2018 to 2021, with opportunities to build on its pioneering work and to support developing it as a national centre of excellence.

There was also support for the Hippodrome’s developing work with Orchestras Live and Durham Music Service.

However, Cllr Joe Kelley questioned whether shows offered were of interest to all residents.

He said when the authority closed Darlington Arts Centre in 2012 to save more than £500,000 a year, it pledged to ringfence funds from the sale for productions of “a slightly higher calibre, which attract audiences that might not go to a pantomime”.

He felt this offer had vanished.

Most of the nearly 250 performances a year at the arts centre between 1982 and 2012 were considered less mainstream. At the time of the closure, a council spokesman had said it was “working to ensure a full arts programme” would continue across Darlington.

Cllr Kelley queried what had happened to money set aside for more intellectually weighty productions, and said shows at the Hippodrome had turned out to be “more mainstream” than had been staged at the arts centre.

He told the meeting: “I wondered whether we are missing a trick by just going for bums on seats totally and not really attracting those shows that are a bit more intellectually challenging than pantomime, that used to be on at the arts centre.”

Council officers said the Hippodrome, formerly the Civic Theatre, had always staged a popular variety of programmes and it continued to face “financially challenging income targets”.

They added that the £800,000 from the sale of the arts centre had been used to develop the Hullabaloo theatre, where 50 per cent of shows would be aimed at adult audiences.