Who we are

Crawley Operatic Society or COS Musical Theatre is an amateur theatre group based in Crawley, West Sussex who have an enviable reputation for producing Musicals that are anything but ‘amateur’ in quality. We stage two major musical shows each year in April and October, in the magnificent Hawth theatre in Crawley.

We rehearse in our own Club House and at Broadfield Community Centre, Crawley.  Our main rehearsal nights are Monday and Thursday. If you feel you would like to join us, do get in contact. 

Child Protection Policy

In many of our shows we have children who perform alongside the adult cast. We see them as an important part of our cast and therefore believe fully in protecting their personal welfare and health and safety.

In accordance with NSPCC guidlines we have a policy which ensures that they are our priority. View it here.

Join us 

Enjoy singing, dancing, acting? Why not join us? Like making things, or organising things? Why not help back stage? We all have a lot of fun putting a show together as a group and you could be part of it. 

Whether you would like to appear on stage or help behind the scenes we would equally like to hear from you: contact us to find out more. We rehearse in Crawley mainly on Monday and Thursday evenings throughout the year.

Our History

In 1958, ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’ by Gilbert and Sullivan was performed by members of an evening class held at The Sarah Robinson School in Ifield. The group called themselves ‘The Sarah Robinson Opera Group’ and the production was a financial success making a profit of £20! In 1961, two shows a year were being staged and in 1964 the name was changed to ‘Crawley Operatic Society’ after the local press ended a review of one of our performances with the words, “Crawley now has an operatic society to be proud of”.

In 1977 the venue moved to Thomas Bennett school for the next 10 years . In 1988 Crawley’s new theatre ‘The Hawth’ opened with our performance of ‘Hello Dolly’ and our average audience doubled overnight. To date we have presented over 22 shows from classics (“The Merry Widow”) to rock musicals (“Chess” and “Hot Mikado”) to a hugely enthusiastic audience averaging over 3500.

In 1997 Derek Hicks and Mike Tyrrell, founder members of the Society wrote a short history called "From an Acorn". Click here to read it.