GROSS ticket sales at Darlington Civic Theatre topped £3m for the first time in its century-old history last year.

Ticket sales increased by nearly ten per cent on the previous year, according to new figures.

Audience figures of 174,658, provided a profit £447,886 last year. The figure is above budget, despite the global economic problems.

A council report into the audience figures at the theatre, which celebrated its centenary in September 2007, has been produced for the 2008-9 financial year.

Among the highlights was pantomime Jack & the Beanstalk which made a profit of £140,069.

Other successful shows were the State Opera of Siberia, Dancing Queen, All the Fun of the Fair, Blood Brothers, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the Siberian Ballet and Allo Allo, all of which made profits of more than £10,000.

Two Darlington Operatic Society productions, for which no fees are paid, Barnum and Pirates of Penzane also had ticket sales of £15,199 and £14,415 respectively. Their two shows were seen by 11,800 people.

The council has reported that Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was seen by a record 9,357 people.

All the Fun of the Fair and the Blood Brothers both attracted audiences of more than 4,000.

One night shows also attracted high figures, with five pulling in audiences above 80 per cent of capacity.

The report, which will be seen by the councils resources scrutiny committee for noting, also said online bookings had totalled sales of £276,000 between its launch in January 2008 and April 2009.