White Rock Theatre and Sussex Hall

The original East Sussex Hospital was replaced by the White Rock Pavilion, a beautifully designed theatre which was officially opened in April 1927 by Edward, Prince of Wales. It was built for the Hastings Municipal Orchestra and soon became a very popular venue for concerts and summer shows such as the ‘Fol-de-Rols’ and ‘Twinkle’. In 1937 it underwent a further re-modification to change it to the Theatre style venue it is today. The Pavilion was refurbished again in 1985 and renamed the White Rock Theatre.

In the past the venue was renowned for hosting musical and summer season holiday shows along with wrestling and sports events. Big names like Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy were regular features. Some matches were even televised from here as was various other sports such as snooker.

From its very beginning Hastings Borough Council ran the Theatre. As the years went by and the theatre continued to run at a loss, the council decided to close the theatre down. This announcement was met with the fierce opposition from local people and groups rallied round in support of the White Rock. In May 2002 Clear Channel Entertainment, a huge American organisation, took over management of the venue. In December 2005 Clear Channel Entertainment was spun off from the main body of Clear Channel and became Live Nation who currently manage the White Rock in partnership with Hastings Borough Council.

High quality shows are now being introduced such as Ellen Kent Opera and Ballet, Jimmy Carr, Joseph and Footloose. One of our major ventures is the Summer Youth Project which attracts between 100-200 young people from Sussex. This takes place in August each year and is a chance for young people to train under professionals from the theatre industry. Young people learn acting, singing, dancing and backstage work. The shows performed by this project include; Annie, the Wizard of Oz and We Will Rock You.

A number of local events and groups have a long standing history with the venue and still perform here to this day. The Hastings Musical Festival, who celebrated their centenary in 2007, the Hastleons amateur dramatic group and the local opera company Opera South East, to name but a few.

The auditorium is split on 2 levels – The Stalls and The Circle with an overall capacity of 1066 seats. The Stalls is also split into flat and raked seating areas. The stage is 47 foot wide and 31.6 feet deep.

The venue also houses the Stalls bar) and a café / restaurant both open throughout the day and during shows. Also part of the venue is the Campbell Room and Sussex Hall – both used for community groups and for corporate hospitality, both of which have recently undergone refurbishment.