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Stephenson Road, Heaton, Newcastle NE6 5QF |
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Box Office: (0191) 265 50 20 |
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History1911 - 1939
Norman Veitch, one of the founders, sets the sights high: 'If we're going to murder plays, let's murder the best.' Ever since, the policy has been to seek out and present on Tyneside plays of quality and interest which, often, the audience might not otherwise have the chance to see. 1911, Sept Shaw 's 'The Shewing up of Blanco Posnet' is banned by the Lord Chamberlain but performed by the People's 1915 The theatre moves to premises in the old Royal Arcade and remained fully active throughout the first World War. Opening play is Galsworthy's 'The Eldest Son'. 1916 The first of our special performances for schools - 'Learned Women'. Chekhov is introduced to Newcastle with our performances of 'The Bear' and 'The Proposal'. 1920 Norman Veitch goes to Birmingham to meet Shaw who comments, 'I wouldn't travel so far to meet Shakespeare himself', but he agrees to come to Newcastle. 1921 Shaw visits us to see 'Man and Superman'. He offers us, for the future, percentage royalty terms in place of performance fees, a remarkable and generous gesture. We became the People's Theatre 1922 Our first Shakespeare play - "The Merry Wives of Windsor". Also, first provincial production of "Heartbreak House" and our broadcast from the Newcastle studio of Gilbert's "Pygmalion and Galatea" 1926 We present the British première of Stravinsky's "The Tale of a Soldier" and perform Rutland Boughton's "The Immortal Hour" with the composer accompanying and a £150 grant from the Carnegie Trust Fund. 1929 A former non-conformist chapel in Rye Hill is acquired for £3000 and converted for £1500 to become the People's home until 1962. It seats 310. There are to be over 500 productions. We turn people away from "St Joan" and realize, as we have continued to do, that the support of the people of Tyneside for worthwhile theatrical endeavour is probably unparalleled anywhere in Britain. On this we continue to build and ambitiously plan. 1931 Sybil Thorndike makes her first visit 1933 J.B.Priestley stays awhile and include the People's in his "English Journey".
1939 A former member--Cecil (Paddy) McGivern produces a 40 minute BBC radio programme about the People's. Dame Sybil Thorndike contributed her impressions and Bernard Shaw said 'I like this People's Theatre'. |
Maintained by Jerry Cooper | ||||||||||
1911,
July First performance of 'The Bishop's Candlesticks' by Norman McKinnell
and 'Pot Luck' by Gertrude Jennings in an upstairs room at the corner of Leazes
Park Road and Percy Street. The name is 'The Clarion Dramatic Club', the takings
are 14/6.
1936 Our Silver Jubilee. Bernard Shaw visits us again--to see 'Candida'.
He comments that the floor is cleaner than on his previous visit. He makes his
last public speech from our stage.