People's Theatre

The People’s Theatre is an amateur theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne. It began in 1911 within the Newcastle branch of the British Socialist Party, staging plays to raise funds for political work. The first performance was The Bishop’s Candlesticks in July 1911, followed by banned Bernard Shaw plays like The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet. Colin Veitch, captain of Newcastle United, was one of its key founders. The theatre moved several times in the city centre before settling at Rye Hill in 1929. In 1962 it relocated to its current site in Heaton, next to the Coast Road. The theatre has a history of premieres and visits by major figures. It gave the first provincial performance of Shaw’s Heartbreak House and the British premiere of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. Well-known visitors included Sybil Thorndike, J. B. Priestley and Bernard Shaw, who made his last stage speech there in 1936. In 1949 it staged the world premiere of Seán O’Casey’s Cock-a-Doodle Dandy. The theatre also hosted the British premiere of Arthur Miller’s After the Fall in 1967 and a visit from Peter Brook in 1969. Visitors find a modern arts centre with a main auditorium and a purpose-built art gallery in the bar. The Young People’s Theatre runs for ages eleven to seventeen. The Phoenix logo reflects the theatre’s many revivals, and the Greenroom displays a replica made from charred boards salvaged after the Rye Hill fire. The People’s Theatre Arts Group brings together theatre, film, music and visual art under one roof.