| The People's Theatre | |
|---|---|
| Address | Stephenson Road, Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 5QF |
| City | Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Country | UK |
| Opened | 1911 (at Percy Street); 1962 (at Stephenson Road) |
| www.peoplestheatre.co.uk | |
The People's Theatre is a theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
The People's Theatre originated from the Newcastle branch of the former British Socialist Party, who started to stage dramatic productions in 1911 in order to raise money to fund their political activities. One of the theatre's key co-founders was Colin Veitch (1881-1938), captain of Newcastle United F.C. in their Edwardian heyday. Plays were originally staged under the name of the Clarion Dramatic Society, one of many so-called 'Clarion' societies then existing within the BSP (such as the Clarion Cycling Club and the Clarion Vocal Union). Its first premises were in the BSP's rooms on the first floor of a building still standing at the corner of Leazes Terrace and Percy Street in Newcastle city centre. Their first performance was of The Bishop's Candlesticks (a drama based on Victor Hugo's Les Miserables) in July 1911. But as Norman Veitch (one of the co-founders and Colin Veitch's brother) later remarked: 'If we're going to murder plays, let's murder the best'. In September they performed Bernard Shaw's The Shewing Up of Blanco Posnet, although it had been banned by the Lord Chamberlain. Thus began the People's Theatre's close association with Shaw, whose plays combined popular appeal with a social message that appealed to the Fabian political sentiments of the Clarion Society members.
These theatrical productions became so popular that the dramatic society started to cast their net wider in their choice of plays to include Shakespeare and genres such as comedy. This led to friction with the BSP, so the Clarion group started to look for new premises. The theatre remained active throughout World War I, during which it formally split from the BSP and moved to the Royal Arcade, Pilgrim Street in 1915.
In 1920, Norman Veitch went to Birmingham to meet Bernard Shaw and the great man subsequently came to Newcastle to see the Clarion production of his play Man and Superman in 1921. After this, Shaw offered in future a percentage of royalty terms instead of performance fees - a generous gesture. The theatre had by now changed its name to The People's Theatre and went on to give the first provincial performance of Shaw's Heartbreak House. In 1926, the theatre gave the British premiere of Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale and Rutland Boughton himself came to conduct his popular The Immortal Hour.
In 1929, the People's acquired new premises at Rye Hill in the west end of the city, where they converted an old chapel into a theatre in which they would stay until 1962, staging over 500 productions. During this period the theatre was visited by a number of well-known figures from the theatrical world, including Sybil Thorndyke in 1931. In March 1933, J. B. Priestley visited the theatre whilst travelling around the country gathering material for his book English Journey; in it, he writes at some length about watching a rehearsal of The Trojan Women. Bernard Shaw visited for a second time in 1936, upon which occasion he made what was to be his last speech from a stage. He remarked: 'This being my last speech in the theatre, I like it to be this one.'. Both Shaw and Dame Sybil took part in a BBC radio programme about the People's Theatre produced by Cecil McGivern an ex-Peoples member, in 1939. In this programme, Shaw opened his remarks with the words 'I like this People's Theatre.' The theatre remained open and producing plays throughout World War II.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the People's continued to perform drama by playwrights whose work at that time would have otherwise been unperformed in North East England, or, in some cases, anywhere else. The People's staged the World Premiere of Sean O'Casey's play Cock-a-Doodle Dandy in 1949. Another premiere was that of W. H. Auden's The Ascent of F6. Auden was in Newcastle at the time, and his friend, the Newcastle poet Michael Roberts wrote the programme notes. Other such writers included: John Whiting, Harold Pinter, Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, John Arden, John Osborne, Ugo Betti and Fritz Hochwalder; many of these productions were regional, if not national premieres of works by playwrights not yet as universally recognised or as popular as they would later become.
By 1955 the People's was beginning to outgrow its Rye Hill premises, and theatre chairman Arthur Kay enrolled the help of Peggy Ashcroft and John Gielgud to launch a building appeal fund. Within five years, this allowed the purchase of the former Lyric Cinema in Heaton and a new arts centre opened there in September 1962 with Shaw's Man and Superman. In 1969 Peter Brook came to see the famous Kathkali Dancers. The diamond jubilee of the theatre was celebrated in 1971 with a performance of Shaw's The Philanderer. In 1987 the Royal Shakespeare Company used the theatre as part of their Newcastle season.
The People's Theatre company still thrives in Heaton in its 500-seat theatre adjacent to the Coast Road, where it still mounts some thirteen productions a year including a full scale family pantomime. The People's is currently planning its centenary celebrations in 2011.
A number of former People's Theatre members have gone on to find success and fame in the professional theatre. These include: James Garbutt, Jack Shepherd, Kevin Whately, Tom Goodman-Hill, and Andrea Riseborough. Other former People's members who have gone on to find success in related fields include pop star Neil Tennant (singer-songwriter in the Pet Shop Boys) and comedian Ross Noble.