Thanks to generous funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of our ‘Drury Lane of the North’ project, we have developed a performance calendar which holds details of all performances from the theatre’s opening in 1867 until its conversion to a cinema in 1919. There were approximately 70 events each year with talks and charity fundraisers as well as opera, pantomime and theatre performances, so over 3,500 events to research!
Supported by Dr Andrew Shail (Senior Lecturer in Film) at Newcastle University, our team of volunteers looked at newspaper adverts, programmes and day-bills and inputted information into an ever-growing database. Together they have given over 1200 hours, for which we are hugely grateful! The database was launched at our international conference in September 2023 and is now available to academics, local historians and community researchers worldwide. You can find the searchable archive here.
Our volunteers often found they were going down ‘rabbit holes’ as they were researching! With so many stories to pique their interest, some have written short articles which you can read below.
We are now continue our research into the history of our beautiful Grade 1 listed theatre creating a database of the Stoll Cinema years which ran from 1919-1974. If you have programmes, daybills or any historic information about the theatre, we’d love to see. You can get in touch via [email protected]
We were absolutely delighted that our Performance Research Volunteers were awarded the 2003 Heritage Alliance ‘Heritage Hero’ award.
Sponsored by specialist heritage insurer Ecclesiastical, the Heritage Heroes Awards are the Heritage Alliance’s celebration of the outstanding contribution Britain’s heritage volunteers make to society. The awards were presented at the Heritage Alliance conference in London in March 2024, which coincided with Heritage Day, a key event in the sector.
The photo shows TTOH Heritage & Development Project Manager Rachel Snape and volunteer Charmian Marshall receiving the award from Ingrid Samuel OBE, Interim Chair of the Heritage Alliance. For more information, and pictures from the award ceremony, please visit our News section.
Seven weeks after the Tyne Theatre opened, a planned performance of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet was late starting due to the absence of the main actress, Mrs Scott Siddons. The performance had been advertised all week, so the theatre was well attended. Eventually, the theatre’s management announced that Miss Juliet Desborough “had consented to sustain the character of Juliet for this evening’s performance”. The show started and was hugely successful with the replacement actress warmly received and “a crowd of people lingering at the stage door to catch a glimpse of the fair heroine as she left the theatre.”
Juliet Desborough was a talented, well-trained, reliable and versatile dancer and actress who gave pleasure to many. Today there is little trace of her but volunteer Rose Wilson has been delving into her personal and theatrical history.
Juliet Eliza William Desborough was born in London in 1837 to parents Alleathea and Daniel. At four she went to Mr Coulton’s ballet school in London, and from seven she performed in metropolitan theatres, appearing before Royalty three times. She preferred acting rather than dance and played in various roles and theatres, later joining Charles Kean’s theatre company.
In 1860 she took a leading role at the Theatre Royal Newcastle in a series of Shakespeare plays with her sister Emma (9 years her senior) acting as chaperone. Her dancing and acting delighted audiences; “Her popularity was evinced by the doors being besieged by an immense concourse long before the time for their being opened”. She returned to the Theatre Royal the following season, in pantomime and drama, performing her famous Spanish dance. Juliet also raised funds for the Infirmary and victims of the Hartley Colliery disaster and was held in high esteem in Newcastle. At the end of the season, when the main role was given to another actress, the audience reacted badly, calling for Miss Desborough to appear and cheering for her outside the theatre.
Following tour seasons in south west England, she returned to Newcastle in July 1864 to participate in recitals at the Tyne Concert Hall where she was received enthusiastically. The Hall’s lessee was Stanley, who would go on to manage the Tyne Theatre. This connection certainly didn’t harm her – it was Desborough who starred in the opening production at the Tyne Theatre on 23 September 1867, giving the title role in Arrah-Na-Pogue, or The Wicklow Wedding. In the first few years of the Tyne Theatre, Juliet was a regular performer, both in comedies such as The Lioness of the North (where one of her cast fellows was Fred Irish who would become her husband), and in serious dramas such as One Touch of Nature. Her performance in May 1868 where she danced a surprise “tarantella”, seems to have been her last at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House.
Juliet went on to theatres in Edinburgh, Reading, then Hull’s Theatre Royal for the winter season (unfortunately curtailed by a serious fire in February). Two weeks later she was in Birmingham where reviews were favourable “she had for sometime past sustained the leading characters at this Theatre with great ability and power” and “she took her farewell amidst most sincere and heart cheering applause”. A starring role in a new play “Behind the Curtain” took her touring again with reviews finding her “a clever actress” who had “won a great reputation in the provinces, and more particularly in the North of England”.
In 1872 Juliet married comedian Fred Irish at St Georges, Hannover Square, and, like many women when they married, her performing career seems to have suffered. She appears for one last time as one of the witches in Macbeth at the Lyceum Theatre, alongside Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. This was a long run, playing from December 1888 and running until June 1889. Just over a year later, in July 1890 Juliet was privately admitted to the Camberwell Lunatic asylum, a progressive establishment and died on 5 February 1892 of influenza.
Mrs Scott Siddons was fashionable, well connected, highly publicised and a gifted reciter who made her name across the world leaving many written articles and portraits while Juliet Desborough was a talented, well-trained, reliable and versatile dancer and actress who gave pleasure to many, today there is little trace of her. The theatrical world is fickle, talent may not always be highly rewarded, and fame is often short lived.
Research volunteer Lucy Swanston writes: In the Victorian era, the way people perceived those who had a disability or disorder was very different from today. I have always been interested in what it must have been like to live with a disability throughout history. I have a disability myself and because of it I am a full time wheelchair user. A while ago when I was researching reviews for 1897, I came across a music hall comedian, dancer and singer called Harry Relph who was known by his stage name Little Tich.
Born on 21st July 1867 in Cudham Kent, Harry was born with an extra digit on each hand and foot. He also had what we now refer to as ‘stunted growth’, staying at the height of 4 foot 6 inches throughout his life. Harry’s father, Richard, married twice. His 1st wife was called Sarah and they had 8 children together. He had a further 8 children with his 2nd wife Mary. Harry Relph was the youngest. His father owned a pub ‘Blacksmith’s Arms’ in Cudham Kent where members of the public would come and watch Little Tich dance. This made him become quite famous and helped the family business by drawing people to the premises. His physical differences set him apart from others the same age and he was often lonely but dancing and making people laugh made him happy.
When Harry was around 8 years old his father sold the pub and moved the family to Milton in Gravesend. Two years later his father was retired and Harry now had to earn his own money by visiting pubs nearby and performing for the crowd who if they liked him, would throw pennies at him.
Harry knew that he was capable of making money by entertaining. He moved into the music hall business, touring for many years with different companies, taking part in well-known plays and pantomimes all over Europe, America and even for a short time in Australia. When he was not touring with companies he continued to perform his own solo shows in music halls, writing his own songs and creating characters. One performance he became very famous for and that everyone wanted him to perform was a dance called “The Big Boot” wearing boots that were 28 inches long (see image left).
As a music hall comedian, making people laugh just came naturally to Harry so many of his performances were based around comedy. It certainly seems that at times he purposely added his disability into some of his routines to make people laugh, but when Little Tich came off stage he was back to being plain Harry Relph and led an extremely private life, enjoying hobbies such as painting.
Harry later formed his own company called H. Tich and W.H. Dawe’s Company in order to perform his own productions. Two of these were performed at The Tyne Theatre and Opera House. The first was a musical comedy called ‘Lord Tom Noddy’ in which Harry played the leading role for a run of a week in both April and October 1897. On the 26th October The Newcastle Daily Journal wrote “The first and greatest factor in its success is the exquisite fooling of Little Tich himself”. The second was a musical farce called ‘Billy’ where he played the role of the Hon. Billy Vavasour during visits in April and September 1898.
Although a lot of his work involved comedy he also took part in fundraising for charities and causes. He came back to the Tyne Theatre and Opera House in 1901 with the Amalgamated Musicians Union to perform in a concert alongside other musicians ‘In aid of the Cobra Disaster Fund’.
Throughout his life Harry had moments where he questioned whether he was being laughed at because he had a disability or whether people laughed because his act was funny. He died from a stroke on 10th February 1928 at the age of 60; it is believed that the stroke may have happened because of a head injury he acquired while performing 2 years earlier.
In the early days of cinema it was common practice for film venues to have an organ and a resident organist. When the theatre became the Stoll Picture Theatre in 1919, a new, two manual pipe organ built by Nicholson & Lord (Worcester) was installed. The opening concert on the organ was on 2nd June 1919 and was given by Harry Davidson.
We believe that it was originally positioned on stage, but in 1928, as more film equipment was added and stage space became precious, the organ console was moved to the pit area at the front of the theatre. It was also at this point that it was rebuilt by the Newcastle firm Blackett & Howden and installed with electric action. Film adverts across the years show it in regular use until 1948 when it was sadly removed for parts as film accompaniment was no longer required. The image shows one set of organ pipes in situ in the Upper Circle box.
Tyne Theatre Organists: 1919 – Harry Davidson; 1920 – George Tootell; 1920 – 1926 – Frank Matthew; 1926 – Jack Courtnay (guest organist); 1927 – 1928 – Herbert Maxwell; 1928 – 1929 – Hubert Eaton Cooter
Volunteer Andy Aldridge has been helping research the films that were shown from 1919-1974, when the theatre was the Stoll Picture Theatre. He says….
“What I hadn’t expected as I ploughed through the adverts of 1926 was that what I found most interesting wasn’t the films at all! Maybe because the Stoll wasn’t showing the blockbusters (while the Queen’s Hall had Norma Shearer and Betty Balfour, the Stoll was showcasing “Boomerang, the Wonder Horse” and “Thunder, the Marvel Dog”), in an effort to keep customers interested the manager, Harry Samson, brought in variety acts to perform between the films and it was these that got me most intrigued… and in need of a time machine!
A few of my favourites are: Harry Moore, “the world-famous paper tearer”; The Musical Avolos with “the largest xylophone in the world”; “Hamilton Conrad and his wonderful performing pigeons… really lovely birds”; Tambo and Tambo “The Greatest of all Tambourine Spinners“; and, perhaps most tempting and intriguing of all “Keith Wilbur, just a New Zealander”!?
Kinematograph Weekly reported in 1927 that the variety turns were proving to be extremely popular: “So successful has it proved, indeed, that the variety bill is being increased to three turns, as from Boxing Day. The turns follow consecutively on one another during a suitable break in the two-feature continuous entertainment“, while by 1828 the new lighting system supported the variety acts through their use of ‘appropriate and interpretative colour lighting‘.
“It has been found, for example, with singers, that to emphasise the atmosphere of a song by its appropriate colour, augments the tonal values and stimulates the audience. Thus a sea-song would have the blues and mauves of the sea, while a nature ballad would have the lights of the morning, ambers and reds and pinks. It is an interesting point of psychology and helps in the art of stage presentations.”
Did you know that in Victorian times, walking competitions were a popular spectator sport? Known as ‘pedestrianism’, competitions were often held at fairs and could involve walking for days at a time on indoor tracks. The Newcastle Chronicle of 1903 often gives information on shorter, local walking competitions, including (in July of that year) the results from a competition involving stage hands from the theatre. The group of 11 men walked from the theatre to Ponteland – a distance of around 8 miles, with Mr Lumsden winning in a time of 2 hours 42 minutes.
Our theatre has a long tradition of being used as a venue for charitable performances. In July 1916, during the First World War, a week of variety entertainment was given by munition workers in aid of local hospitals and wounded soldiers. The 18 ‘turns’ included Hall Treherne, novelty ventriloquist; Melvo, a marvelous magician and Tom and Florrie Wana, comic exponents – all munition workers giving their time freely for charity. At the end of the week’s run, the total collection was £591 – just over £62k in today’s money! Interestingly (although maybe not surprisingly!), the hospital linked to the theatre’s original owner, the Joseph and Jane Cowen Training School in Benwell Grange, benefitted from the performances, as did the Northumberland War Hospital in Gosforth, the Convalescent Camp (Alnwick), the R.A.M.C. Tyne Garrison Hospital, and the RVI.
For more information on charitable performances, visit our performance database and search ‘charity’
As our volunteers have researched our historic productions, other information has come to light. Did you know that public electric lighting reached Newcastle in 1890, and that the theatre was one of the first venues to benefit? The Newcastle Daily Chronicle reports that the first public lights were switched on on Friday 10 January in the shops around Grainger Street where “the light seemed to be steady, bright and reliable”. The paper also mentioned that Tyne Theatre had a large and powerful light on the top of the building, and by February this was lit and working – the “dazzling, sun-like lamp is hoisted over the front part of the roof of the theatre, and is visible afar off in many directions. It will form an admirable strangers’ guide during the run of the pantomime.”
In February 2024, Dr Andrew Shail kindly hosted a session for our film volunteers at Newcastle University to discuss their findings and answer questions. The evening started with a short talk by Dr Shail on the beginning of the film era at Tyne Theatre which is found on the YouTube link to the left. We will be adding the film information to our searchable database – but we have around 70 years to research, so if you would like to join us, please get in touch.
Our research has brought to light information on a number of Tyne Theatre staff – both technical and management. One of the names that occurs time and again in the late 1800s is Miss Hart, the Box Office manager. Our volunteers have often mentioned her name, and wondered whether there was more information on her. Hannah Going found the following in the Newcastle Daily Journal in 1914.
Hannah says “I liked this because Miss Hart has been very much the constant in all of the database work I’ve done (and I expect a lot of other people’s). The fact that her time off was noteworthy enough for the newspaper to write about it suggests to me that she was important to people at the time too.” We wonder whether our fantastic Box Office staff will have their health noted in the local papers in 20 years time!
We have since found the following picture of Miss Hart who was in post from 1895-1919.
Queuing System at the Tyne Theatre
The North Star (Darlington) includes the following as part of its review of the pantomime “Babes in the Wood” on 10th January 1898:
An innovation to theatergoers in Newcastle was introduced for the first time on Saturday by Mr. Fred. C. Sutcliffe, the energetic manager of the theatre to obviate the crushes so frequent at theatre doors. This is to form the crowd into what is known as a “cue.” The people place themselves into files of three and anybody coming after must take their place behind them. They have their money ready and pass into the theater in one steady stream without least disorder. The trial of this system satisfied both the management and the public.
Volunteer Caroline Roberts has been researching the history of the Newcastle Amateur Operatic Society who were regular performers here at TT&OH. In October 1896 a meeting of enthusiastic amateurs was held to determine the formation of an operatic society in Newcastle. Other towns in the region, like Sunderland already had such societies, and the new Newcastle group wasn’t short of applicants.
The first performance presented was ‘Dorothy’, a comic opera by BC Stephenson, which ran for a week from the 31st May at the Tyne Theatre and raised £105 for the Royal Infirmary Fund. This was to be the start of a 16 year annual slot at the theatre with Gilbert & Sullivan operas. The 1898 production was ‘The Gondoliers’ where Gerald Veitch, elder brother of the famous Newcastle United Footballer Colin Veitch, is listed in the chorus. Gerald had a long association with the Society, becoming stage manager for many years and eventually directing. His brothers Norman and Colin both join the group, with Colin acting as musical director for a number of years. 1899 was ‘The Mikado’, followed by ‘Yeoman of the Guard’ (1900), ‘Iolanthe’ (1901), ‘Pirates of Penzance’ (1902), ‘Haddon Hall’ (Sullivan and Sydney Grundy) in 1903, a double bill of ‘HMS Pinafore’ / ‘Trial by Jury’ in 1904, and ‘Utopia Ltd’ in 1905.
In April 1906 ‘Rose of Persia’, by Arthur Sullivan and Basil Hood, was performed. It was noted to be the ‘most artistic of the Society’s productions’ so far and the first year Mr H G Amers was conductor of the society. Many of the principal actors in these first few years stayed the same but the talent pool was growing with the Society’s glowing reviews in the Newcastle Journal and Chronicle, there were full houses to most shows and more and more people wanting to join. A souvenir programme was produced for this year featuring photographs of the cast in costume (see image left).
In April 1907 the Society stepped away from Gilbert and Sullivan for the first time with an English comic opera by Edward German and Basil Hood entitled ‘Merrie England’. The following year they were back to Sullivan with the first performance in Newcastle of his last unfinished work, ‘The Emerald Isle’. In May 1909 ‘The Mikado’ and ‘Merrie England’ were both performed, with the society the first amateur society to perform two different operas on the same day – one at the matinee, and one in the evening. ‘Princess Ida’ appeared in 1910, with ‘The Gondoliers’ /’Ruddigore’ (1911) and ‘Pirates of Penzance’ / ‘Patience’ (1912)
In 1913 the society again stretched itself by performing 4 different shows. Burn and Sullivan’s ‘Cox and Box’ and ‘The Chieftain’ on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Ruddigore’ on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday nights. Unfortunately, the Society made a loss, the expenses mounting to £575 9s 2d. ‘The undoubted reason for the decline in our takings was the fact of the Quinlan Opera Co following us the next week at the Tyne Theatre.’
Wagner’s Ring Cycle was performed by the Quinlan Opera Co. It was the first time it had been performed in the northeast. The company had made quite a name for itself by touring the dominions with its more serious brand of Opera. It was thought many of the ‘more monied people’ in the region went to the Wagner recital rather than the Amateur fare the week before. Thankfully the society had built up a comfortable buffer in its coffers, but this was reduced to just £150. The Society worried that the public’s taste had changed and preferred Variety and ‘Picture Halls’. Members at the AGM suggested they should ditch the word Amateur from their title, though no decision was made.
The change the society did make was to the venue. 1913 was the final year they would appear at the Tyne Theatre, with a move made up the road in May 1914 to the Theatre Royal. The society continued through the First World War raising monies for the war relief funds, and post-war, survived the creation of new amateur operatic societies around the region although with some drop in numbers and years with poor ticket sales. There was a continued lean towards G&S, either together or apart, and some local premieres such as the first performance in Newcastle of ‘The Beauty Stone’ (Sullivan with Pinero /Carr) in 1921.
In 1926 the society made news headlines when Gerald Veitch, who was stage manager for the up-and-coming performance, resigned with only three days until opening night. Veitch was quoted as saying: “They won’t attend rehearsals and I have taken them through many for the forthcoming production without meeting with that is in my judgement sufficient support and enthusiasm.”
A move away from Gilbert & Sullivan took place in the years following with varying success, and (with now over 80 amateur dramatic societies in the region) the society eventually fades from the limelight in 1936 due to lack of funds. In 1949 it was reformed as the Newcastle Operatic Society and is still running under Newcastle Musical Theatre Company.
Research volunteer Hannah Going has been looking at 1910, where national events either appeared in the newspaper adverts she was looking at, or had a direct impact on the Tyne Theatre performances.
Hannah writes: “There were two General Elections in 1910, the first in January and the second in December, both resulting in a hung parliament. The January election features prominently in the newspaper advertisements; alongside Evening Chronicle adverts for the productions at the Tyne Theatre of “Miss Hook of Holland” and “Dear Little Denmark”, there are candidate manifestos and listings for public meetings with the candidates. The manifestos include the budget, tariff reform, unemployment, Irish Home Rule, Women’s suffrage, reform of the House of Lords, the number of MPs to which Newcastle is entitled and the country’s trade with the colonies.
Interestingly the December General Election isn’t nearly as prominent in the newspaper advertisement clippings we have. I found a single manifesto (Evening Chronicle 7844) and only a few listings for meetings with candidates. Possibly, the difference is the result of competition with Christmas advertising …. or election fatigue?”
The Death and Funeral of Edward VII had a more direct impact on the Tyne Theatre, causing performances of “A Pair of Spectacles” and “Jeanie Deans” to be cancelled.
Edward VII died on May 6th 1910 and theatre performances were cancelled on 7th May 1910 as a consequence. The newspaper advertisements in the Evening Chronicle advertise the performances as normal (indicative of how difficult changing print at the last minute is) but are surrounded by thick black border. However, the closure of the theatres is reported on the final page of the same newspaper “In consequence of King Edward’s death the performances at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, to-day will not take place. The Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, also will be closed to-night. There will be no performance at The Pavilion, Newcastle, to-night. The Palace Theatre, Haymarket, is to be closed to-night. So, also, will the Grand Theatre. The Empire Theatre, Newcastle, will be closed this afternoon and evening.”
That the theatres didn’t remain closed was, in part down to the new King George V. The Times (11th May 1910) reported “the thoughtful wish expressed by King George that the theatres should be open, except on the day of the Royal funeral, so as to mitigate, as far as possible, the loss of employment caused by the national catastrophe.”
The Theatres were closed again for the funeral on 20th May 1910. Curiously, the adverts for “Jeanie Deans”, which was the production at the Tyne Theatre don’t reflect this until the day of the funeral. In the run up, the adverts all simply state that performances are going ahead “tonight and during the week” with no forewarning of a break in performances until the day of the funeral itself where the advert stated “TO-NIGHT (FRIDAY) CLOSED IN CONSEQUENCE OF HIS LATE MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII”. This wasn’t unique to the advertising for the Tyne Theatre, the other theatres followed the same pattern of limiting references to the closure for the funeral to the day of the funeral. The newspaper advertisements on the day of the funeral had black borders as they had on the day the death was announced.
Newcastle University have kindly hosted two sessions for our volunteers to share their research with each other. This recording is from our May 2023 session where Dr Andrew Shail updates on the progress so far, and shares his findings on when and how film gradually found it’s way into the theatre programme.
As our database becomes more complete, we are beginning to see a pattern of recurrences of particularly popular plays. One such drama piqued TT&OH Trustee Alan Butland’s interest. Having been given a souvenir programme for a 1909 performance of The Lyons Mail at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, Alan began to wonder whether this drama had been performed at the Tyne Theatre.
Alan says “The Lyons Mail was based on the melodrama Le Courier de Lyon (1850) written by French dramatists Moreau, Siraudin and Delacour, about a famous criminal case. Its fame spread rapidly and before long it appeared in various translations on the London stage. The most famous English version was written in 1854 by Charles Reade for the actor Charles Kean, lessee of the Princess’ theatre in London and mentor of the young Ellen Terry. Entitled ‘The Courier of Lyons’ it gave the lead actor the chance to play both villain and innocent, adding to its popularity.”
It seems to be for this very reason that we first see the piece appear at the Tyne Theatre – as a vehicle for F W Irish in 1870, and then again for actor/manager Charles Harrington in March 1879. In fact, the piece was obviously so popular that it could gain an audience again when it reappears in our programme just 8 months later in November 1879 with Mr Flockton’s Company – although now entitled The Lyon’s Courier!
In 1877 Charles Reade wrote a revised version of the play for the actor Henry Irving, with another change of title to The Lyons Mail. Henry Irving himself appears as the lead at the Tyne Theatre in 1900, supported by Ellen Terry during a week of a varied bill that included Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice and Arthur Conan Doyle’s Waterloo. The Lyons Mail was kept in Irving’s repertoire until his death in 1898 and it was resurrected by his son H B Irving in 1908. It is HB Irving who plays the leads in the 1909 performance programme that Alan holds.
During the late Victorian era, there was increased concern for the protection of wildlife, especially birds, with several national movements being formed. One of these was the Dicky Bird Society, begun by William Adams, editor of the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle under the pen name ‘Uncle Toby’. Formed in 1876, the society asked children to take a ‘pledge’ to feed and protect birds and their nests. Within 10 years the club had 100,000 members and in 1886 a theatre show was held at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House to celebrate. Although advertised as ‘One Evening Only’, 4000 children attended the first performance on Monday 26 July and a second quickly had to be scheduled for the following day. We’re lucky that we’ve found both the programme and tickets during our research project. The programme included addresses by the local clergy and the Mayor, bird imitations, marionettes, a comical shadow pantomime and plenty of singing which Uncle Toby asked ‘that the children ..join heartily’. With that huge audience it must have been quite a sound!
The medallion below was given to children when they joined the society. The society pledge is written on the back: I hearby promise to be kind to all living things, to protect them to the utmost of my power, to feed the birds in the winter time and never to take or destroy a nest. I also promise to get as many girls and boys as possible to join the Dicky Bird Society.
Research volunteer Georgina Pickering has been looking the early years of the theatre: “I have had the pleasure of researching 1867, the very opening year of the Tyne Theatre and Opera House. Whilst there was a range of different productions being staged, Joseph Cowen Jr’s proclivity for a bold, political show, is clear. One that stood out to me in particular was The Lioness of the North – one of its newspaper advertisements stated that all its proceeds would go towards “the poor of Newcastle and Gateshead”. Whilst I couldn’t find a huge amount of information on the play itself, I know that it focuses on the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, an eighteenth-century Russian empress. Despite her lavish lifestyle and volatile nature, Petrovna was popular amongst the masses. She made education freely available to all social classes, banned capital punishment and threw parties for children of those affiliated with her Court. Whilst the Lioness of the North’s portrayal of Petrovna is unknown to me, I find it poignant that the proceeds of a play about the rich, were directed to those struggling in the local area. I think that it likely reflects Cowen’s character, and the importance and impact of a theatre for the working class.”
Volunteer Carol Cooke has been digging into the year 1869. The first thing that struck her was the enormous length of many of the shows. For example, in June 19, the programme started at 7.30pm with Third Act of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, (two scenes – one quite long) followed by ‘A new way to pay an old debt’ and finished with ‘the laughable play “The Lady of Minster ‘”. Carol says “I couldn’t figure out why Henry VIII and why the third act, but someone suggested that this was less to do with the play and more to do with it containing an actor’s party piece”. This is highly likely – the actor in question was “the eminent tragedian” and German-American actor Mr Daniel Bandmann (see image) who was internationally noted for this particular role. Playing alongside him as Ophelia was his brand-new wife and London actress, Miss Milly Palmer – a double bill not to be missed!
Carol also noticed the pantomime trains – a feature in many of the Tyne Theatre pantomime programmes during Victorian times. In January 1869 the Newcastle Daily Chronicle advertised them running from South Shields, Jarrow, Sunderland, Alnwick, Blyth, Tynemouth and Hexham – sometimes advertising twice on the same page. “The trains were scheduled for different days so that on a Wednesday the audience may have been full of people from Blyth and on a Thursday people from Hexham. It’s what we do today, offer to pay transport to bring school groups to panto matinees!”
Even one room of a venue like the Tyne Theatre has quite the backstory, a backstory which shows the place of roller-skating in the history of the stage. In 1876 Newcastle upon Tyne, and indeed the country at large, was experiencing a fad for roller-skating on wooden floors, a fad capable of sustaining several rinks around the city, including the Albert Skating Rink at the Northern Academy of Arts on Blackett Street and another in the Drill Hall on New Bridge Street. The manager of the Tyne Theatre at the time, George Stanley, leaped with all four limbs onto this roller-skating bandwagon, somehow managing to convert the whole of the Tyne Theatre’s stage and pit into a single flat area, and so turning the Theatre into the Tyne Theatre Skating Rink (open 10.30am-1pm, 2.30-5pm and 6.30-9pm, admission 1 shilling, skate-hire sixpence, with live musical accompaniment, and with fancy-dress evenings on Fridays (because Victorians on roller-skates aren’t amusing enough a mental image)). Thus between 6 July and about 30 August 1876, the period when the Theatre would normally be ‘dark’, it was turning an income.
But then when the theatrical season started again on 11 September 1876 (imagine the woodwork in early September!), the demand amongst the people of Westgate for a rink seems to have persisted, and so one T. Potts, the manager of the Boar’s Head pub, which adjoined the Tyne Theatre, converted one of its rooms into the New Westgate Hall Skating Rink, which opened on 30 October 1876 (open 1-4pm and 7-10pm, admission 1s, skate-hire sixpence, with live musical accompaniment plus fancy-dress soirees every Friday (because why mess with a perfect formula?), and with floors of pitch pine, “acknowledged to be the best known material for skating purposes, and combining the smoothness and hardness of real ice with an elasticity which is found wanting in ordinary asphalte floors”, as its advertisements in the Daily Chronicle announced).
Fads come and go, of course, and so on 18 December 1876 this neighbouring venue became the Westgate Hall of Varieties, with standard music-hall turns, including comic songs and sketches. Thus a theatre and a music hall were now suddenly crammed up against each other like passengers on the Tube.
The Westgate Hall of Varieties operated for about five years, and in c.1882, the Boar’s Head (now the Tyne Vaults Inn) and its Hall were both absorbed by the Tyne Theatre (address now, as a result, 111 and 113 Westgate Road). In July 1883 the Newcastle Journal noted that the renovations at the Tyne Theatre included turning the gallery of this disused space into a “gentleman’s cloak room” and the ground floor into a refreshment room, in which, the journalist added, smoking would be permitted, something that prompted the owner, Joseph Cowen junior, to dash off worried letters to the then manager R.W. Younge and his own solicitor, letters that have survived in Tyne & Wear Archives. Just under a decade later, in late 1892, the room was again refurbished as the Grand Salon, a second and more intimate performance space for the venue, which operated for over 20 years.
When the Tyne Theatre closed in 1919 and was converted into the Stoll Picture Theatre, the room became a luxurious tea room (trust me – photos survive in the City Library), and then when the venue became the Tyne Theatre again, the room was refurbished yet again to become the current Bistro Bar.
Dr Andrew Shail, Senior Lecturer in Film & Chair of Board of Studies for Media, Culture & Heritage, Newcastle University
Volunteer Viv Grey says “I was offered the opportunity to volunteer for the research project through St James’ Heritage and Environmental Group. I was looking for something that would keep me occupied during the long winter nights. I’ve been exploring my family history for many years and enjoy doing research, especially looking through old documents and newspaper articles. My family have been resident in Newcastle since the early 1600s and I’m fascinated by the history of the city, so an opportunity to get involved wasn’t to be missed! Whilst completing the year 1902 I came across Mrs Kendal’s Company. I was surprised to find my husband’s great uncle, Arthur Kightley, playing Tyrell Jones in the drama, ‘The Elder Miss Blossom’. He was born Kightley George Ugle in Battersea in 1873 and we were unaware that he’d ever acted in Newcastle upon Tyne. It may explain how he met his wife Mary who was born in the North East”.
The data collected from the programmes will be made into a database which will allow genealogists to search and find family members who performed here at Tyne Theatre & Opera House. Keep an eye on our pages for more details.
During 1898, TTOH hosted a set of talks by Dr Anna Longshore Potts. A graduate from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (the first US college where women could secure a medical degree), Dr Longshore had grown a reputation as an author and lecturer on women’s health and completed a very successful world tour in the 1880s. Volunteer David Reynolds found her lectures advertised in the Evening Chronicle, alongside a list of endorsements from US secretaries of state, Newcastle city dignitaries, and ‘hundreds of distinguished ministers of religion in all parts of the world’. The talks were given on afternoons during the pantomime season in January 1898 (in between performances of Babes in the Wood!). Admission was for women only, and 5 illustrated lectures were given – 4 with the title ‘Health and Disease’, and one on ‘Maternity’. We’ll be interested to see whether such lectures for the community were common during the early days of the theatre.
Funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund
NLHF Project Partners: British Library, John Wilson, Newcastle University, Northumbria University, Durham University, Newcastle Central Library
Supported by The Lit & Phil
