Playhouse Theatre, Manchester

The Playhouse (M15 5EU) was originally known as the Hippodrome (named 1902-1905), was built in Hulme, Manchester and opened on 6 October 1902. The theatre and its larger conjoined Grand Junction Theatre (named 1901-1905), were part of the theatrical empire of W. H. Broadhead. The two theatres were reportedly connected by an arcade[2], though most other researchers dispute this. The combined building of both theatres was the Broadhead's company headquarters for their circuit of 17 theatres across the North West of England. [3] [4]

The theatre was originally used for variety acts, while the Grand Junction next door concentrated on staging dramatic productions. Fairly quickly in 1905 the names of the two theatres were swapped: the (old) Hippodrome became the Grand Junction and started showing drama, while the more popular variety performances were transferred to the bigger auditorium next door in what became the (new) Hulme Hippodrome. Some time around 1929 the smaller theatre was converted into a cinema, and the Grand Junction was renamed the Junction Picture Theatre.[4]

It was sold in 1950 to James Brennan and converted back into a theatre, renamed The Playhouse. The first performance in the newly converted theatre took place on 22 January 1951, The Happiest Days of Your Life, a farce that had recently been made into a film. It became the new base for the Frank H Fortescue Players company of actors who had played in the Hulme Hippodrome during the 1940s.[5]

In December 1955 the BBC bought The Playhouse from James Brennan to be used a rehearsal and production studio for radio and television shows, and the connecting doorways in the internal party wall to Hulme Hippodrome were bricked up. The BBC had previously been hiring the next door Hulme Hippodrome at weekends for mostly radio recordings (1950-1956) and the BBC needed a studio full-time. The first programme from the Playhouse, a televised revue entitled Call It A Day, was broadcast in 1956.[6]

Notable artists who recorded at the BBC Playhouse included Ken Dodd, Les Dawson and Jimmy Clitheroe, It was also the base of the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra.[7]

The Beatles recorded for the BBC at the Playhouse on 7 March 1962 (broadcast the next day) and again on 11 June 1962 (broadcast on 15 June 1962). The second recording was of five songs, mostly cover versions but including reportedly the first radio or TV recording of a Lennon-McCartney song, Ask Me Why.[8]

The last BBC production in the theatre took place on 25 August 1986.[2] Meantime the Playhouse had been designated as a Grade II (two) heritage listed building on 8 June 1997, the same day as the conjoined Hulme Hippodrome.[9]

On 2 April 2002 a radio programme in the series Palace of Laughter was broadcast on Radio 4 with interviews of various people who had played at the Playhouse in the BBC years.[7]

With funding provided by Manchester City Council and other groups, the building was subsequently bought and converted into an arts centre, called the Nia Centre (1991-1997), with at this point a 900-seat theatre licence including the circle.[10] The Nia Centre’s first event was on 2 May 1991 featuring a performance by Nina Simone.

A summary of an evaluation of the Nia Centre looked at: "the little-documented failure in the 1990s of the Nia Centre, the UK’s first black arts centre which opened in Hulme, Manchester in 1991. My exploration raises a number of key ethical challenges: How in the aftermath of the Nia’s collapse and in the almost complete absence of archival records, is the historian to mediate what inevitably are multiple truths coming from different perspectives?”[11]

In 2012 The Playhouse was used by the evangelical Fountain Gate Chapel, and in 2017 the building was sold at auction to a new owner, a local property company.

The building is currently tenanted by Niamos CIC (est 2018) with a theatre licence capacity of 450 seats.