Database

During 2022-23 Dr Andrew Shail, a Senior Lecturer in Film in the School of Arts and Cultures, aided by a team of research assistants, scoured Newcastle City Library and Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums for newspaper adverts, programmes and day-bills. A team of local volunteers then used this mountain of raw data to compile a database of 5,085 productions comprising 20,094 performances between the Theatre’s opening in September 1867 and its transformation into the Stoll Picture Theatre in 1919 - six times the amount of performances originally expected.

This period was the heyday of touring theatre and opera companies, many of whom made the Tyne Theatre & Opera House their home for a week or a fortnight year after year. The database documents performances featuring some of the biggest stars of the era, including Sarah Bernhardt, Lillie Langtry and Ellen Terry, and even music-hall stars such as Vesta Tilley and Harry Lauder.

The theatre also staged its own productions, both dramatic and operatic, and the database documents some curious phenomena too, including the Theatre’s occasional summertime transformations into a roller-skating rink in the 1870s and a cinema in the early 1910s.

The theatre’s ongoing heritage work also includes restoration of the Victorian stage machinery and the theatre’s Grand Saloon and the theatre hopes to be able to recreate historical performances once this work is completed. Newcastle, Northumbria and Durham Universities have contributed expertise in theatre history, music and architecture to the scheme.

Expertise and knowledge

Dr  Shail said: “While some of the Theatre’s funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund was earmarked for compiling this history of performances across 52 years, that work also required a massive amount of volunteer labour, and I was delighted to find that so many Tynesiders were willing to give both time and energy. We made a point of having two of the volunteers – David Reynolds and Lucy Swanston – help me launch the database as part of the three-day conference held by the Theatre  in September 2023, and several of the academics at that conference approached me afterwards to congratulate us on the work done.”

The volunteers, who won a Heritage Heroes Award from the Heritage Alliance for their efforts earlier this year, found some interesting connections while delving into the past. One found they were descended from the theatre’s original manager George Stanley. They also enjoyed doing the research so much they have continued into the Stoll years, documenting every film (and, surprisingly, yet more live performance) shown in the venue in the period 1919-1974, entirely by themselves.

“I’ve always been lucky to work in an area of history that at least some non-academics find interesting, but I was still surprised when the volunteers decided to press on past 1919 without needing any encouragement from me”, adds Andrew.

Rachel Snape, TT&OH Heritage and Development Project Manager said: “We are delighted that our database of historic theatre performances is now complete. Andrew has been an invaluable source of expertise and has supported the project not only with his time, but also led research sessions that have allowed our volunteers to extend their own knowledge of the period. We are extremely grateful for his involvement and ongoing support.”

The searchable database is a valuable resource for academics, theatre historians and genealogists, and can be found here.

You find out more about the volunteers’ findings here.