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Theatre in Northern England: The Northern Arts Region - TheatresIn General Northern Arts, a Regional Arts Board (RAB), covers the northernmost part of England: the counties of Northumberland and Durham, plus Tyne and Wear and Teesside in the east, and the county of Cumbria, the former Cumberland and Westmoreland, in the West. Its area stretches from the North Sea to the Irish Sea, and from the Scottish Border to just south of the River Tees. Out of its population of approximately 3.1m people, around 55,000 are directly employed by the cultural industries, and these industries account for 2% of the GDP (gross domestic product) of the area. Most of these cultural businesses are small and 87% have been established for more than three years, a success rate well above the average, and 90% say that they expect to maintain or increase their level of activity in the coming years. The significant conurbations in the region are Carlisle (Cumbria), Teesside (Billingham, Hartlepool, Middlesborough, Stockton, plus Darlington, which is part of Co Durham), and Tyne and Wear (Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland). Co Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland are predominantly rural. Theatres - Receiving Houses The major theatres are in the east, in Tyne and Wear. There are two main receiving houses, the Empire in Sunderland (1875 seats) and the Newcastle Theatre Royal (1294). The Theatre Royal is the main home for the Royal Shakespeare Company's annual six-week residency in Newcastle, a residency which has lasted for more than 25 years. Newcastle has recently lost another receiving house, the New Tyne Thatre and Opera House which was sold and changed its name to the Newcastle Opera House and become a rock music venue. Also in Tyne and Wear are the Customs House in South Shields (South Tyneside), a smaller receiving house with two auditoria seating 400 (Main House) and just over 100 (Studio), and the 746 seater Whitley Bay Playhouse, which is in North Tyneside. Moving south towards Teesside, the largest theatre is the Darlington Civic, which seats 900. Also in Darlington (which, incidentally, is the largest town in Co Durham) is the Darlington Arts Centre (375). In Teesside itself are the Arc in Stockton (300; 100 in the Studio), the Middlesborough Theatre (482) in - obviously! - Middlesborough, the Forum in Billingham (649), and the Town Hall Theatre in Hartlepool (contemporary note: Hartlepool is ex-minister (twice) Peter Mandelson's constituency), which seats 406. Major questions hang over the future of the Billingham Forum, which will probably vanish within the next couple of years to make way for a new shopping centre and supermarket. In Cumbria there are no large theatres: the largest is the new Lakeside Theatre in Keswick, which seats 400. Situated on the side of Derwentwater, one of the most attractive situations possible for any theatre, it replaces the old "blue box" Century Theatre which was built on the backs of lorries (it was, at one time, a touring theatre in the absolutely literal sense of the words) in the Lakeside car park. Also within the boundaries of the Lake District National Park, at the southern end while Keswick is in the north of the district, is the Old Laundry Theatre in Bowness-on-Windermere. This is a 300-seater, modelled on the Stephen Jospeh in Scarborough, which in the summer is the home of the Alan Ayckbourn Theatre Company. Just outside the National Park boundaries are the Rosehill Theatre in Whitehaven, seating 208, and the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal, which seats 250 in its main house, 230 in the Malt Room, and 60 in the Studio. Producing Theatres Theatre-based production companies are much fewer in number in the Northern Arts region. There are, in fact, just three, one of them only having its company for part of the year. The two year-round companies are Northern Stage, which is based at the 502 seater Newcastle Playhouse (which also includes the 140-seater Gulbenkian Studio), and Live Theatre, which has its own theatre (also called Live Theatre) which can seat up to about 200, depending upon the configuration of its very flexible space. Both present exciting and often innovative shows. The Lakeside at Keswick has its own company during the summer months, but functions as a receiving house the rest of the time. Introduction Articles Indices: |
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