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Articles
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Articles |
The NWA Region: LancashireLancashire is the biggest single area of the region, and that is where we'll start our survey, and where better than to begin than Blackpool, England's favourite holiday destination back in the fifties? Although the advent of the continental package holiday (and, more recently, package holidays further afield) has robbed Blackpool of its favoured destination status, it is still very much a holiday town, especially during the famous Blackpool Illuminations, and as such has plenty of places of entertainment aimed at the tourist. Only two, however, really concern the theatregoer: the Opera House and the Grand Theatre. The Opera House, which seats 2920 and is therefore one of the biggest theatres in the UK, has an 18-week summer season, a six-week Christmas show, and three weeks devoted to amateur theatre, whilst the Grand is a receiving house, taking No. 1 national tours. It has two performance spaces, the 1192-seater main house and a studio which seats 80. Just down the coast, the rather posher Lytham St Anne's has the Lowther Pavilion which is mainly, but not exclusively, amateur. Seating 454, it does present the occasional professional production. If we head north from Blackpool, we come to another seaside resort, Morecambe, which has two venues, the 630-seater Dome, a multi-purpose venue, and the Platform Arts Centre, with its 350-seater performance space. Now let's do a quick alphabetical tour of Lancashire's main towns and cities to see what they offer to the theatre-lover. Blackburn has three theatres: King George's Hall (opened in 1935) is a receiving house with 1,800 seats, whlst the Darwen Library Theatre is a much more intimate venue with 275 srats. Its programme includes classic and contemporary theatre from visiting companies, music, dance, children's shows and apopular Christmas programme. It opened in 2000. Finally there is the Thwaites Empire Theatre which hosts popular plays, comedy nights and amateur productions. The Octagon in Bolton (350-420 in the main house, 100 in the Bill Naughton Theatre) is one of the products of that great upsurge in regional theatre in the sixties and seventies. At one time it was at the forefront of new writing and exciting new theatre, but, like so many others, in recent years financial pressures have clipped its wings somewhat, but it still provides a good service for the people of the town. Just up the road is Burnley (go through Ramsbottom and Rawtenstall, quintessential Lancashire names), where we find the Burnley Mechanics (formerly the Burnley Mechanics Institute, one of those wonderful educational institutions created for themselves by the working class after the Industrial Revolution) which has a performance space of 427 on retractable seating (300 cabaret style). Bury has its Met Arts Centre with a 200-seater performance space and Colne has its civic centre, the Muncipal Hall, with a capacity of 661. Lancaster, the county town, has two theatres. The Duke's is a producing theatre with a main house seating 320 and a studio 198, and the Nuffield, which is owned by the University of Lancaster, is a 200 seat venue used by the University but also takes small scale touring shows. Oldham, now virtually a part of Manchester, has its Coliseum, another producing theatre, which sets aside eight weeks of the year for visiting companies. Its main house seats 580 and the Studio 60. Preston's civic centre, the Guild Hall Centre, has its Charter Theatre, with seating for 780, whilst the Guild Hall itself seats 2020, the largest venue in Lancashire outside of Blackpool, but it is far from being primarily a theatre space. And then there's Rochdale. As you might expect, its theatre takes its name from the town's most famous child, the singer Gracie Fields. The Gracie Fields Theatre is part of a commnity school, seats 688, and is available for hire. Salford, which everyone except its inhabitants considers to be part of Manchester, now has one of the most impressive arts centres in the entire United Kingdom. Opened last year, the Lowry, named after the famous painter who came from Salford, has two theatres: the Lyric which seats 1,730 and the Quays with a capacity of 466. The Lowry is a receiving house, taking major tours. In fact, it is here that, currently, the massive Tantalus, conceived and written by John Barton and directed by Sir Peter Hall, is having its European premiere. Still a very new venue, the Lowry looks set to establish for itself a special place in British theatre. St Helens, a de facto if not de jure part of Liverpool, has its receiving house, the Theatre Royal with a capacity of 704, and, finally in our survey of Lancashire, Warrington's The Studio, seating 150, offers a home to small-scale tours. The North West Arts Region: Introduction Articles Indices: |
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