Theatre gets funds for new performance space

The Tyne Theatre and Opera House was built in 1867 as a "theatre for the people"

A Grade I listed theatre opened in 1867 has secured £500,000 to create a second performance space.

The proposed "black box" studio at Newcastle's Tyne Theatre and Opera House will be used for solo performers, workshops, meetings and rehearsals.

It will be constructed in the area that has recently been the Bistro bar, but has also been a tea room and a music hall.

Chairman of the theatre's Preservation Trust Mike Wilmot said: "We’re looking forward to building on this legacy and opening the next exciting chapter for our venue."

The venue, on Newcastle's Westgate Road, opened in September 1867

As well as a new performance space, there will be a new cafe and bar in the foyer.

Named ‘1867’, it will also be the new home of the box office and will open in November.

Built as a theatre it went out of business in 1917 and was converted to a cinema

The building was funded by Victorian industrialist Joseph Cowen who envisaged a "theatre for the people".

During much of the twentieth century it operated as a cinema called the Stoll Picture Theatre, which closed in 1974.

It reopened as a theatre in 1983 but was plagued by financial troubles.

In 2008 it was purchased by Newcastle City Council which transferred the freehold ownership to the Tyne Theatre and Opera House Preservation Trust.