Northern Stage is a theatre and producing theatre company based in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. It is surrounded by

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...

's city centre campus on King's Walk, opposite the students' union building. It hosts various local, national and international productions in addition to those produced by the Northern Stage company. Until the 2006 reopening, the theatre was known as the Newcastle Playhouse and is a registered charity. The complex hosts three stages. The capacity decreases, with stage one being the largest, having 447 seats. The complex also boasts a bar-restaurant, McKenna's at Northern Stage.

History

Early history

The building opened as the University Theatre in 1970 and provided a new home for the ''Tyneside Theatre Company''. The company had been established in 1968 in the Flora Robson Playhouse in

Jesmond Jesmond is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher average house prices than most other areas of the city. H ...

, which was set to be demolished in a road-widening scheme. The architect William Whitfield designed the building as a flexible performance space which also included three bars. The new building also housed the ''Gulbenkian Studio''. The building was renamed the Newcastle Playhouse in 1978 after the Tyneside Theatre Company was dissolved and replaced with the Tyne and Wear Theatre Company. In 1987 this became the Tyne Theatre Company and moved out of the Playhouse to the

Tyne Theatre and Opera House The Tyne Theatre and Opera House is a theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is a Grade I listed building .html" ;"title="/sup>">/sup>, rated "in the top 4% of listed buildings" by English Heritage and is afforded a three star (the highes ...

before another move in 1989 saw its name change to Northern Stage. The company moved back into the Playhouse in 1992, also taking over the running of the Gulbenkian Studio. From 1992 until 2005 the company was run by

Alan Lyddiard Alan Lyddiard (born Michael Hadland Kent; 1949 in London) is a theatre and film director, best known as an advocate of community arts and the ensemble theatre model in the UK. Lyddiard was Artistic Director of Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne ...

who created the Northern Stage Ensemble Company in 1998.Radosavljevic, Duska: Shared Utopias: Alan Lyddiard, Lev Dodin and the Northern Stage Ensemble in Pitches, Jonathan (ed): Russians in Britain: British Theatre and the Russian Tradition of Actor Training, Routledge, 2012

Recent history

It re-opened in August 2006 as Northern Stage after a £9 million refurbishment. The first performance at the refurbished theatre was a production of

Dennis Potter Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...

's '' Son of Man''. During the 2006 refurbishment an art installation was constructed on the roof of the theatre, titled Escapology, by artist Cath Campbell. On 7 April 2008 the Barras Bridge car park was permanently closed for the development of the university's new ''King's Gate'' Building.

Productions

Northern Stage both presents visiting national and international theatre and produces its own productions. On reopening in 2007 productions included the first-ever revival of ''

Our Friends in the North ''Our Friends in the North'' is a British television drama serial produced by the BBC. It was originally broadcast in nine episodes on BBC2 in early 1996. Written by Peter Flannery, it tells the story of four friends from Newcastle upon Tyne ...

'', ''Lipsynch'' (a co-production with Robert Leapage), the first major UK adaptation of

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

's '' The Bloody Chamber'' and updated versions of

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential pla ...

's ''

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' ( Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having be ...

'' and

John Osborne John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter and actor, known for his prose that criticized established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play '' Look Back in Anger'' tr ...

's ''

Look Back in Anger ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet i ...

''. More recently, productions have included ''

Hedda Gabler ''Hedda Gabler'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The world premiere was staged on 31 January 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage. The play has been ca ...

'' and ''

Dr. Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character and the main protagonist and title character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''.. He is an Italian-Swiss scientist (born in Naples, Italy) who, after studying c ...

'', both in co-production with Newcastle-based theatre company Greyscale

References

External links

Northern Stage

McKenna's at Northern Stage
{{Music venues and festivals of Tyne and Wear, state=autocollapse Theatres in Newcastle upon Tyne Theatre companies in Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle University Producing theatres in England Music venues in Tyne and Wear William Whitfield (architect) buildings