Middlesbrough Theatre

Middlesbrough Theatre stands in the centre of Middlesbrough, a town in the north-east of England. It opened in 1957 as the first purpose-built playhouse in Britain after the Second World War. Sir John Gielgud performed the opening ceremony and played Caesar in the first production. The building replaced an earlier Opera House that closed in the 1920s and became a cinema. Local amateur groups kept live theatre alive while the new theatre was planned. A committee of ten ran the project, led by treasurer John Berriman. The theatre matters because it gave a large area its first new theatre since the war. Miss Leah Bateman of the Macdona Players urged people to protect live drama in 1948. Over forty dramatic societies joined the effort in 1923. The building was completed with public funds and opened with a Gielgud performance. In 1996 it changed its name from Little Theatre to Middlesbrough Theatre. The council still acts as trustee for the charitable trust that runs it. Inside, the auditorium seats audiences for plays, concerts and films. The theatre hosts Middlesbrough Youth Theatre, with groups aged seven to twenty-five. Performers from the youth company have appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe. Jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli played there in the late 1970s. The building also belongs to the local network of film theatres. A souvenir programme marked the fiftieth anniversary in 2007 with a gala concert.