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____________________________________________________________________________________________ Hulme Playhouse Theatre, Warwick
Street, Manchester
Above - The Procenium and Auditorium of the Hulme Playhouse, Manchester during its time as a BBC studio in November 1985 - Photo Courtesy Ted Bottle.
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The Hulme Playhouse was built as the Hippodrome in 1902, next door to the current Hulme Hippodrome, by J. J. Alley. Both Theatres were built by Alley and were connected by an arcade. Alley also built several other Theatres in Manchester, including the Metropole, the Royal Osborne, the Hulme Hippodrome, and the Queens Park Hippodrome along with the Pavilion Theatre in Liverpool, and several others in the Broadhead Circuit.
Right - The Auditorium of the Hulme Playhouse, Manchester during its time as a BBC studio in November 1985 - Photo Courtesy Ted Bottle. In 1905 the Theatre was renamed the Grand Junction Theatre whilst the Theatre next door, originally called the Grand Junction Theatre and Floral Hall, was renamed the Hulme Hippodrome. Both Theatres effectively swapping names. In 1929 the Theatre was converted for Cinema use and renamed the Junction Picture Theatre. In 1951 the Theatre was renamed again, this time to the Playhouse. Five years later it was renamed again to the BBC Playhouse and used from 1956 to 1987 by the BBC as a Radio and TV studio.
Above - The Auditorium of the Hulme Playhouse, Manchester
during its time as a BBC studio in November 1985 In 1991 the Theatre was renamed yet again, this time to the Nia Centre, and converted internally for mid size touring productions but the stage depth was made smaller and the site lines were compromised and the venture failed. The Theatre closed in 2000. The Hulme Playhouse is Grade II Listed and its current capacity is 700 but sadly it stands empty today. |
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The
Theatre was smaller than its neighbour but had a similar auditorium
with two straight Balconies, but this Theatre has slips running to the
proscenium from the upper Balcony. The Theatre originally had a capacity
of 1,500.
