History

1940 After the Government ban, productions continued. In the 1940's we present world premieres of O'Casey's 'Cock a Doodle Dandy', 'Purple Dust' and 'Red Roses For Me' and Peter Ustinov's 'The Banbury Nose'.

1944 The Tyneside Film Society (founded in 1934) amalgamates with the People's Theatre.

1947 The Tyneside Music Society is founded as part of the Group.

1948 Art Exhibitions became a regular feature of the Group's activities.

1949 Poetry readings are added to our work and the concept is born of one building housing all our activities and being a true Arts Centre.

1950's We are in early with first Newcastle productions of plays by John Whiting, Harold Pinter, lonesco, Beckett, John Arden, John Osborne, Ugo Betti, Fritz Hochwalder.

1955 Peggy Ashcroft, accompanied by John Gielgud, launches our major building appeal fund.

1959 The unfailing support of the Tyneside audience for our choice of play encourages us to purchase the Lyric Cinema, Heaton. It takes all our assets--£27,000--and we set about raising the necessary money to turn it into an Arts Centre.

The ultimate cost--all raised--proves to be E180,000 and generous donors include local authorities and business, the Arts Council, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Northern Arts and many other corporate and individual supporters.

1962 One of our last performances at Rye Hill is our own musical version of 'Sweeney Todd' as part of the Blaydon Races Centenary Celebrations.

The new Arts Centre opens with Shaw's 'Man and Superman'.

1963 The Young People's Theatre is founded, providing 100 youngsters with regular creative activity each Saturday, and opportunities to perform their productions before appreciative audiences.

H.R.H. Princess Alexandra visits us.

1969 The theatre is host to the famous Kathakali Dancers. Peter Brook flies up from London to see them.

David Benedictus stays with us for six weeks and creates "Dromedary" for the first Newcastle Festival