Theatre Tour

The Royal Hippodrome Theatre is running a behind-the-scenes tour on Wednesday 4 November, starting at 10:30 am. It's one of those things they do regularly throughout the year, so if you can't make this one, there'll be others. The tour takes about an hour and a half, and it's designed to open up the history of Eastbourne's oldest working theatre, taking you into the parts of the building the public doesn't normally get to see.

There's a bit of a story to the place that's worth knowing before you go. The Hippodrome is a Grade II Listed Building run by the Friends of The Royal Hippodrome, a group formed back in 1992 to make sure the venue stayed in use. Much of the front-of-house team is made up of volunteers, so it's a community-run operation rather than a commercial one. That's part of what makes it a bit different from your usual night out at the theatre.

And it's not just tours. The Hippodrome keeps a regular programme going alongside these, including the Screaming Blue Murder Comedy Club, which is now in its sixth year. Over that time it's hosted names like Jack Dee, Eddie Izzard, Jo Brand, Bill Bailey and Alan Davies, so the comedy club is a good sense of what usually crosses the stage.

If you fancy it, the tour is on Wednesday 4 November at 10:30 am at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre, 106-114 Seaside Road, Eastbourne, BN21 3PF. It costs £5 and runs for about an hour and a half.