Funding green lights gallery restoration at Tyne Theatre & Opera House
Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre & Opera House has been granted £247,500 to undertake important restoration work to the gallery tier of the heritage venue.
The work, made possible thanks to funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund will start in Summer 2025 and will involve the lowering and restoring of traditional sightlines to improve audience comfort, safety and view.
This work will also increase the capacity of the gallery tier while new seating designed in a heritage style - but incorporating 21st century comfort expectation - will be installed.
CEO Jonathan Higgins said: “Historically, the Tyne Theatre & Opera House is a venue that has been saved numerous times through the hard-work and dedication of the community.
“Not only is this testament to how valued this venue is but also highlights how crucial volunteers are in helping charities like the Tyne Theatre & Opera House Preservation Trust.
“From Trustees, to maintenance, to research volunteers, we’re incredibly grateful for all volunteer support, past present and future, which ensure this heritage gem can be enjoyed by future generations.”
As part of this work, the theatre will also be carrying out a special digital recording project, The Seat of Memories, where people will be recorded sharing a memory they have of visiting the theatre.
The collected recordings will be added to the theatre’s performance database - put together by volunteers - which holds a record of all performances at the venue from when it opened in 1867 to 1919. This will be expanded as part of the project to include all the films screened during the years the venue operated as a cinema.
Project director David Wilmore said: “Restoring the gallery is the beginning of an ambitious project to fully restore the whole site in a sympathetic manner that also caters for 21st century comfort.
“We are incredibly grateful to the National Heritage Lottery Fund for their continued support on this journey of re-discovery which will focus on our local arts communities.”
The fully restored gallery will re-open to audiences in Autumn 2025.