Royal & Derngate and the Cobblers to work in partnership

Royal & Derngate and Northampton Town Football Club have embarked on a new partnership to work more closely together, building on the football club’s ongoing membership of the theatre’s Business Club.

Both the Cobblers and Royal & Derngate enjoy loyal support from the people of the town and county, and through cross promotion of activities at the two organisations they hope to encourage more people to try something new.

One area they will both be focussing on is families. NTFC is renowned for its family offering, winning the EFL Family Excellence Award for an impressive nine years in a row. The award recognises their exemplary efforts to attract and return young fans of the future and the high quality family match-day experiences they provide.

Royal & Derngate offers an exciting and varied selection of family entertainment, welcoming 45,000 people to its festive family productions last Christmas. The theatre’s nationally recognised Creative Learning programme engages with over 12,000 young people a year, through youth theatre and workshop activities, and its work with schools and the wider community.

Previously Royal & Derngate and NTFC worked together to bring a multi-media production, The Twelfth Man, to life at Sixfields Stadium.

Royal & Derngate Development Manager Chris Smith said: “Here at the theatre, we’re very excited to be working more closely with Northampton Town again. Both organisations offer high quality entertainment and many of our supporters are truly passionate about theatre or football. If we can build on that passion to expand people’s interests into another area that’s a benefit all round! As two organisations at the top of their game, we can also raise the profile of the town and increase footfall, showing off what Northampton can offer to a wider audience.”

Marketing Manager at Northampton Town, Charlotte Hyams said: “I’m excited to be partnered with the Royal & Derngate once more. This is a valuable relationship that shares an enthusiastic audience and one we can both utilise to increase engagement. As a town, Northampton is not only lucky to have a successful football, rugby and cricket team, but also a thriving theatre. I’d like to thank Chris for all of his commitment and hard work to making this an exciting and engaging partnership.”

Over the coming months, Royal & Derngate will have an increased presence at match days, including engaging with audiences through ‘lucky seat’ draws at Sixfields offering the chance to win tickets for certain shows. The theatre will be promoting NTFC to its audiences to encourage new attenders to experience the Cobblers match days, while the football club will be sharing special promotions from Royal & Derngate with its season ticket holders.

To find out more about what is coming up at Royal & Derngate, visit the theatre’s website at www.royalandderngate.co.uk. For more information about Northampton Town Football Club visit www.ntfc.co.uk .