Our History

In 1928, a group of young people from the Methodist Church in Luton Road, Chatham, decided to stage The Pirates of Penzance in the Church Hall. They continued to perform annually in the Globe Theatre, Chatham until 1939; calling themselves The Chatham Amateur Operatic Society and comprising of members from the Medway Towns.

After the war, the decision was taken to move to a professional venue – The Theatre Royal in Chatham. In 1955 the Company moved again, this time to the Chatham Empire. A year later they performed The Country Girl, breaking away from their Gilbert and Sullivan roots! Four years later, they had the honour to produce the first amateur production of The Merry Widow and, in 1963, were invited to open the new Town Hall Theatre with a gala performance of this show. There they stayed until 1982, when they moved to the larger venue of the Central Hall (now the Central Theatre) performing The Dancing Years by Ivor Novello. It was in 1985 that, after some careful consideration, the company decided to change their name to The Three Towns Theatre Company.

It was decided that this new name represented the membership at the time, with members mainly coming from Gillingham, Chatham and Rochester. Our history includes many sparkling performances including, Kismet, Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, The King and I, The Sound of Music, 42nd Street, Me and My Girl, Crazy for You, Mack and Mabel, Sweeney Todd, Beauty And The Beast, South Pacific, Annie, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Addams Family Musical, Copacabana, Sunset Boulevard and The Wind in the Willows, to name a few!

You can find a whole list of shows we have been performing since 1928 by visiting our Previous Shows page. Or follow us on our Facebook page.