We started out to break away from the more traditional shows. Our first production ‘A Slice of Saturday Night’ - a non professional premiere at the old Horsham Art centre, now called the ‘Capitol’ was such a success that we quickly grew in strength and reputation alike. We followed ‘Slice’ with ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and then ‘Snoopy the Musical’ and all productions achieved high critical acclaim and fantastic box offices.

After a short break, the production team decided to enhance their knowledge and experiences by obtaining professional work and accreditations. Ariel set out on what was to be one of many challenging productions ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at Chequer mead, East Grinstead in 2004. We decided to move away from the traditional light palm tree approach to the show and go for the darker Really Useful Group version. With kind permission from (Lord Lloyd Webber) we cast accordingly and the production was well under way. Suddenly, potential disaster struck when Chequer mead theatre went dark due to financial difficulties. There were over five weeks of uncertainty but the timely intervention of East Grinstead Council to agree for JCS to be one of the first large scale productions back in the theatre with their backing put the production back on schedule. JCS played to an instant emotional highly critically acclaimed sell out, putting Chequer mead back on the map.

After JCS, came “A Night out with Courtney Cox”. This brand new comedy written by Chris Wilkinson, followed in our ethos of putting on the unknown or more modern plays. ANOWCC is a fast paced comedy in the ‘Men Behaving Badly’ style. This was to prove to be an absolutely hilarious and surprisingly popular hit with our audience, playing to packed audiences. Due to its popularity we are planning to take it to the Edinburgh fringe and on a professional tour at a later date.

During 2005 we put ‘Planet’ on hold and instead went ahead with our sell out production of ‘An evening of Musicality’ at the Hawth Crawley. This concert aimed at the more up tempo and unknown musicals proved such a huge hit with you – our loyal audience - that we returned in December last year with “An evening of Musicality 2” and this also sold out. So by popular demand this will go on a professional tour basis in 2008/2009 as Musicality3.

2006 was a particularly busy year for us. We launched a Drama School in January - Ariel Drama Plus (which now has 150 students, 8 tutors and 2 support staff) and performed “Return to the Forbidden Planet” in June, “Joseph & His Technicolor Dreamcoat” in September, “Art” in October, and “Musicality 2” in December !!

2007 has already started in a similar way. “Tommy” kicked off this season’s entertainment for a week-long run to overwhelming public and professional acclaim and we follow this in November for a TWO WEEK run of “Les Miserables - School Edition” at Chequer Mead, East Grinstead (Tickets on sale now - 01342 302000 !!!) bring together a wealth of young talent form Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

If you enjoyed “Tommy” please let us know on our web site www.arielct.co.uk as we like to receive open and honest feedback, because without you the audience there would not be the magic that is live theatre. Here, you will also find details of our forthcoming productions and the exciting news that we will be presenting in 2008 - The Queen / Ben Elton hit “We Will Rock You” at Chequer Mead box office 01342 302000 in aid of the Queen Elizabeth II special needs school charity - AND we will be reprising “Return to the Forbidden Planet” at the Hawth, Crawley in June 2008, due one again to your demands that we bring this back. Musical Theatre clearly doesn’t get any better than this!!