as it celebrates its
one hundredth birthday
| Our One Hundredth Year |
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| The People’s Theatre in 2011, as it celebrates its one hundredth birthday |
This page written and produced by Martin Collins, People's Theatre Archivist
The year 2011 marked the 100th year of continuous functioning of theatre through the auspices of the Clarion Drama Clubs and as the independent People’s Theatre and People’s Theatre Arts Group.
It began in 1911 when socialism was a brash newcomer to the political scene which attracted many young people with exciting ideas and no money. Socialism on Tyneside was nearly broke. To raise money they had resorted to running dances that anyone, even Tories and Liberals, could attend. A higher standard of fund raising was required by some in the movement.
It was suggested that the local socialists should put their talents to earning money by mounting a play which would both educate and entertain. Two short plays were selected. “The Bishops Candlesticks” was an adaptation of one of the stories in Victor Hugo’s “Le Miserables” while the other “Pot Luck” was a polemic about a poacher and the landed gentry. In June 1911 the two plays were staged in the socialist rooms in Leazes Park, Newcastle upon Tyne. They were so successful that they staged them again in August making the handsome sum of fourteen shillings and six pence (aprox. £80 by today's prices). There was obviously money for the cause in this drama thing!
One of the branches of socialism was the Clarion movement based upon the utopian socialism of Robert Blatchford. The Clarion movement took the idea that the socialist revolution could be achieved while enjoying yourself and so promoted enjoyment in such things as sports and the arts. Sports such as swimming, football and, most importantly, cycling were followed, along side singing in choirs and glee clubs and the drama clubs. As they were going to continue with drama the Newcastle Clarion Drama Club was established and a play “The Shewing Up of Blanco Posnet” by the socialist playwright Bernard Shaw was chosen to be its first offering to the public of Tyneside.
One hunded years later, with a new name and four different homes under our belt, what was begun in Leazes Park is still going strong. This is the story of our Hundredth Birthday year. All profits raised from it will go towards the refurbishment fund for our present home. We need four million pounds (£4,000,000) to provide us with a home that will take us well into our second hunded years. And if you enjoy this and perhaps have a million stuffed in a mattress that you don’t want then the People’s Theatre can put it to good use.
Our Centennial Season
 | On a cold and snowy January night the People’s Theatre Centennial season began with a production of G. Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion.” It was thought that as G.B.S. had such an influence on the development of the theatre it was only fitting that we begin with one of his plays. | ||||||||||||
| Pygmalion was not the first of Shaw’s plays that the Newcastle Clarion Drama Club performed, that privilege goes to one of his one act plays “The Shewing Up of Blanco Posnet “ which, at the time, was a controversial choice as it was under a Lord Chamberlains ban. Indeed, Pygmalion wasn't even the second or third of Shaw’s plays, these being “Major Barbara” and “Candida.” We didn’t get around to “Pygmalion” until January 1915 after which it became one of the company's most produced plays, this being our 11th production and the Young People’s Theatre have also produced it a number of times. |  | ||||||||||||
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 | Into the dark season of February and a complete change of tack for our next production. Martin McDonaghs “Beauty Queen of Leenane.” is described by the director as a fine addition to the drama of horror and violence. - It certainly provoked some comments! | |||||
| This was our first production of this play although we have produced a number of McDonaghs other plays such as “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” and “The Pillowman.” His plays always depict a degree of cruelty and Beauty Queen is no exception. I am sure that his plays will form an important part of our canon of plays for some years to come. |  | |||||
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 | The company's first attempt at doing Shakespeare was “The Merry Wives of Windsor” in 1921. Since then we have done most of the old bard’s plays although we still have some left to do. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This was our sixth production of the Dream. Our first production of “A Midsummer's Night Dream” was in 1946 when the shadow of the second world war was still dark. Things were hard to come by but, as a member of the cast back then said “Parachute silk covered a multitude of sins." There have been a number of notable Shakespears over the years and some such as “Julius Caesar” have gone down in infamy, but Shakespeare is always good fun. Over the next hundred years there are sure to be many more productions of Shakespeare's plays. |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | One act plays have been somewhat neglected by us over the last few years so for the centennial we produced four brand new ones. |  | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| These four one act plays cover a range of subjects including part of our own tradition . Bernard Shaw’s play “Saint Joan” has formed an important of our development and in Philip Meak’s “Keeping up with the Joan’s” this little tradition has been explored in an interesting way. We haven't produced “Saint Joan” for some time now, but let us hope that she will grace our stage once again in the not too far distant future. Each of the other plays has something of interest to say and shows that there is life in the one act play yet. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Controversy has never prevented the theatre from mounting a good play and “A Clockwork Orange” is no exception | ||||||||||||||||
| Over the years the theatre has explored a wide range of utopias and dystopias from Shaw’s “Back To Methuselah” and Karel Capek’s “R.U.R.” through to George Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm.” However, none of them were quite as controversial as “The Clockwork Orange” with its comments about violence from both sides of the divide. Of course it could be argued that all plays are either utopian or dystopian, it just depends on how you look at them. |  | ||||||||||||||||
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 | The company has always been associated with the best, old and new, and Lee Hall is one of the new best. Of course it helps when you know the teacher who had a powerful influence on the lad at school. | ||||||||||
| One of our leading directors was Lee’s teacher and so he has always had a connection with the People’s. The previous play of his that we performed was “Cooking With Elvis” in 2003. We are sure that “The Pitman Painters” is not going to be the last of his work we will be mounting |  | ||||||||||
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 | When one of our founders said that "if we are to murder plays then let’s murder the best" we sometimes wonder what he had in mind. Certainly not this wonderful play, which we certainly did not murder. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| This is the theatres second production of Piaf the first being in October 1982. This wonderful biography of the French singer Edith Piaf brings home all the heart that can be felt when she sings her songs of ice and fire. It was wonderful also that we had an actress whose voice and dramatic skills matched up to it. |  | |||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Another first for the stage, this time from the theatre’s President Michael Chaplin. The Chaplin family has had a long association with the People’s Michael’s father Sid, preceded him as President and his mother is a long term member. | ||||||||||||
| Sid Chaplin’s “In Blackberry Time” and “Close the Coalhouse Door” have been produced by both the People’s and the Young People’s theatres. Their sassy blend of northeast country lore and humanity are reflected well in Michael’s work. Originally written for the radio “The Song Thief” has transferred well to the stage. |  | ||||||||||||
 
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 | Nicholas Nickleby may not be our first venture into the world of Charles Dickens but it is the biggest by a long way. A glorious romp over two nights gave us something special. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our first venture into Dickens was “A Christmas Carol” produced in 1973. Since then his work has cropped up on a regular basis. The Young People’s Theatre has tapped the Dickens resources as well, especially doing Oliver Twist - it was just made for all those kids. Nicholas Nickleby is something on a different level. Most adaptations of books on stage limit the scope of the story, this production gave us the opportunity to give the book its full worth as a play. |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 
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 | Two men in a South American jail cell may not strike you as the best of plots, however you will not have taken into account imagination, and just what a man's mind can create. | |||||
| This little gem of a play seemed to fall off the radar and performances of it became few and far between. Maybe it was the Musical, maybe the film: it doesn't matter because it is back. This is the second production of Puig’s work of imagination and its impact hasn’t diminished, indeed, only the geography has changed. If you don’t shed a tear at the end you have a wooden soul. |  | |||||
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 | The kids are all right - well these ones certainly are. The Young People’s Theatre is nearly 50 years old and they have produced some fantastic theatre in that time and this one live up to form. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The first stirrings of Youth theatre began in the 1960s and the People’s was in the forefront of the movement. What began in the 1960s was a grand actor factory producing a range of performers and technicians. Hollywood film star Andrea Riseborough, stand up comedian Ross Noble and musician Neil Tennant are but three who have gone on to the bright lights of stardom, over the years numerous actors and stage technicians have made their start with the Young People’s Theatre. |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 
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 | And so we approached the end of our 100th. year And how better to end it than with a rip-roaring pantomime that has not one but two dames -oh yes it does. “Cinderella.” OH YES IT IS | |||||||||||||
| The People’s first pantomime was a production of “Babes in the Wood” staged in 1931 in our brand new Rye Hill theatre. It was followed up in 1936 by “Babes in Hollywood” which was co-written by Colin Veitch, the one time captain of Newcastle United Football Club. There was then rather a long gap to the next one we did which was a production of Aladdin in 1969. Since then the panto has been a regular highlight of our year not to mention the fact it helps pay for the rest of the season. This is our fifth production of Cinderella and I am sure it won’t be the last. |    | |||||||||||||
 
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| Throughout the centennial year Dave Barden has been scribbling away to produce a series of excellent images that represent what has been going on in the theatre for the last year. It culminated with an excellent exhibition in the Northern Rock Gallery. Here are some of the images. |  |
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| In the People’s Theatre Auditorium: |
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| in the Studio Upstairs: |
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| The Young People’s Theatre productions |
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| The Northern Rock Gallery exhibitions |
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| Other Companies using the People's Theatres facilities |
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Into the Future.
Our Heaton building is our forth home and we have been in it since 1963. It was originally built in the early 1930s as the Lyric Cinema and is beginning to show all eighty years of its age.
There is life in the old bricks yet, but we need some investment in it - we need some four million pounds [£4,000,000] of investment.
These are our four venues, Leazes Park Rooms, the Royal Arcade, Rye Hill and Heaton.
If you would like to make a donation to the People's Theatre refurbishment fund please make your cheques out to "People's Theatre Arts Group" and send them to:-
So that’s that then.
Here’s to the next hundred years
The photographs in this web page have been taken by a number of photographers including Jim Mohan, Jerry Cooper and Ron Henry. All images are copyright of the photographers and the People's Theatre Archive ©
Published by the People’s Theatre Arts Group Archive, Stephenson Rd. Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 5QF ©