International Theatre Audience Fascinated by the Heritage of Tyne Theatre & Opera House

Earlier this month Tyne Theatre and Opera House (TT&OH) hosted a 3-day conference for over 125 international delegates and speakers from the UK, Europe, USA and Canada.

While delegates came to share academic papers covering subjects from theatre fires to aerial ballet, and from the development of tap dance to scenic painting, it was the demonstration of the theatre’s unique understage Victorian stage machinery that was the highly anticipated highlight of the conference.

The theatre’s Victorian stage machinery has had further restoration over the past year thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Led by Project Director David Wilmore, delegates were able to watch both from on-stage, and then from underneath as the newly renovated cuts were opened and the bridges that support scenery rose from under the stage - demonstrated for the first time since 1987.

The community volunteers working the ropes and winches below the stage have spent the last 10 months learning how to maintain and operate the unique Victorian machinery under the guidance of Master Carpenter Colin Hopkins. Delegates were also treated to a look at the 31-foot timber spindle in place high above the upper fly floor with its renovated spiked wheels and shafts that would have operated the gas battens and backcloths.

Theatrical illusionist Paul Kieve (The Lord of the Rings, Matilda, Ghost the Musical, Harry Potter) joined the conference on Wednesday evening straight from his sell-out show Awakening in Las Vegas, to share secrets of ‘Pepper’s Ghost’, a Victorian illusion that used reflections to make ghostly apparitions appear on stage.

A highlight on the second day was a presentation of Melies Faust aux Enfers, a silent film from 1903 that showcases the use of stage machinery, accompanied by Philip Carli, one of the world’s leading silent film accompanists.

The conference also marked the launch of the theatre’s performance database. This searchable archive includes information on all performances from 1867 to 1919 and has been led by Dr Andrew Shail (Newcastle University), supported by a team of community volunteers, two of whom spoke at the conference about their involvement in the project. The archive can be found and searched on the theatre’s website www.tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk

With Newcastle being the only provincial city to include two Grade 1 listed theatres, delegates were able to enjoy theatre tours of both the Tyne Theatre and the Theatre Royal during the conference.

The conference marked the culmination of a 12 month heritage project funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund and completes the first phase of the theatre’s Grand Saloon restoration project.

For more information please visit https://www.tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk/heritage-project/

Image: The restored grave trap being used in the conference finale, Photo by Carl Joyce