The Tyne Theatre and Opera House has had a dramatic history which was perfectly showcased and explained in their Heritage Fund sponsored conference entitled ‘Victorian and Edwardian Theatre in Performance: Music and Machinery - Stagecraft and Spectacle’ last week.

Under the wonderful project director David Wilmore, attendees heard about its history, future plans and the amazing volunteers and committed supporters who are protecting and conserving this historic site. Now a Grade 1 listed theatre, it operated as a theatre from its opening in 1867 to 1919 when Stoll Moss converted it to a cinema and then its rebirth following a dreadful fire that destroyed the stage house on Christmas Day 1985.

David opened the conference in his own inimitable style by giving a rendition of the song from its first show, the pantomime, Ye Lambton Worm, a story which is part of local folklore and closed it by descending below stage and quickly reappearing using the newly installed Victorian star traps for a dramatic grand finale . Between these moments, we learn of the golden era as the Drury Lane of the North, when Augustus Harris transferred his London pantomimes to Newcastle , the fire of 1985 and the astonishing project to install the Victorian stage machinery removed from Theatre Royal Bath and master carpenter Colin Hopkins’ amazing work in reconstructing features using ironwork recovered from the fire including a new thunder run above the stage.

There were fascinating presentations too such as Paul Grieve’s wonderful explanation of the Pepper’s Ghost stage illusions, Vicky Edwards’ fascinating review of theatre fires, Hayley Bradley’s discussion about the treadmills used to create horse races on stages in Victorian theatres, and the incredible work done by a team of volunteers under Andrew Shail to create a database of every performance staged at the theatre from 1867 to 1919 which is now available as a resource on the venue website.

There is so much more to do to enhance the database with images, to install the rest of the Victorian machinery so a full heritage staging of a production can be mounted and to restore the adjoining building into a community based 300-seat venue. But with the energy, enthusiasm and commitment of these amazing people and financial support of the community and Heritage Funds, this worthwhile enterprise will hopefully over time be fully realised.

Written by: Nick Wayne