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Music Hall

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Venue Type & Location

Music Hall

Overview

  • Address: Nelson Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. For a current map, Click Here.

  • Alternate Names: Grainger Music Hall, New Tyne Concert Hall, Gaiety, Grainger Theatre. There is some disagreement about when each of these names was applied to the venue. The Theatres Trust site suggests that the building was called the Grainger Music Hall during the 1860s, the New Tyne Concert Hall post-1879, and the Gaiety beginning in 1884. David Dougan, on the other hand, claims that the building was known as the Gaiety Theatre upon its first construction in 1838, and largely retained that appellation until transforming into the New Tyne in 1879.

  • Audience Composition: Given the contemporary description cited below (which mentions “second class people […] penned up like sheep […] to make room for the reserved seats”), audiences at this venue would appear to have been of mixed income and social status (transcribed in Kathleen Barker Collection).

  • Performance Space Description: In its initial form, the Music Hall was a small concert room located above a lecture hall. The Theatres Trust site gives its interior dimensions as 80 feet 4 inches (width) by 40 feet 6 inches (depth) in 1844. This facility doesn’t seem to have been all that attractive as a performance space however, as indicated in a description printed in The Newcastle Chronicle in 1852. The Music Hall, the author wrote, “is not really fit for a first-class concert. Some attempt has been made to smarten it up by a coat of whitewash, but the want of room, the want of ventilation, and the want of seats, make it most uncomfortable. There are no proper ante-rooms, it is lighted by gridirons of gas-bars, the windows must be opened to let in air, giving you the choice of suffocation or stiff-neck, and the second-class people are penned up like sheep, without a bench to sit down upon, to make room for the reserved seats” (ibid).

    For a description of the building’s Classical façade (still extant), Click Here. (Theatres Trust Site).

  • Typical Fare: During the period covered by this database, the Music Hall was mainly used for vocal and instrumental concerts. Other kinds of entertainment were offered at times, however, including panoramic displays and demonstrations of mesmerism.

    • Performance History

  • The Music Hall was built and opened in 1838, and remained in theatrical/performance use until 1949. It was renovated and re-named several times over this period.

  • According to David Dougan, the character of the entertainments offered at the Music Hall changed in tandem with the alterations to the building and its name. In its first decades, Dougan writes, the venue "provided a stage for dignified concerts, lectures and exhibitions", including readings by both Dickens and Thackeray (35). "By 1879," however, "the cultural atmosphere of the Gaiety had given way to the more popular entertainments of the New Tyne Concert Hall. In 1911, the management began slipping films in between the music hall acts" (ibid).

  • In 1949, the venue was deemed unsafe for theatrical performance. It was subsequently converted into a portion of a retail store, but the original façade still remains.

    Please see the 'Bibliographic Sources' link at right for a complete listing of materials (both primary and secondary) from which the above information was compiled.

    Beth Marquis
    Additional research by Paul Babiak

    • Troupes at Music Hall

    Film Affiliated people Film Type # of event(s)
    Brown, William Wells Lecture Definite Brown, William Wells
    Catlin & Museum/Lecture Troupe Exhibition Definite Catlin & Museum/Lecture Troupe
    Copway, George Lecture Definite Copway, George
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1844) Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1844)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Everton, J.H. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Irwin, J.H. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Juba, Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Ludlow, M.C. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Pell, Gilbert W. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Briggs, T.F. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Valintine, J.W. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (Van Dwyer, 1846) Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (Van Dwyer, 1846)
    Ioway Indians Wash-Ka-Mon-Ya , Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Mew-Hu-She-Kaw, Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Neu-Mon-Ya, Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Catlin, George Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Ruton-We-Me , Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Se-Non-Ty-Yah , Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians No-Ho-Mun-Ya, Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Shon-Ta-Yi-Ga , Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Wa-Tan-Ye , Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Wa-Ta-We-Bu-Ka-Na , Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Jeffrey, Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Ruton-Ye-We-Ma , Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Corsair, Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Oke-We-Me , Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Koon-Za-Ya-Me , Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    Ioway Indians Ta-Pa-Ta-Me, Exhibition Definite Ioway Indians
    New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders Swaine, Minstrel Definite New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders
    New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders Rainer, Minstrel Definite New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders
    New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders Ole Bull jun., Minstrel Definite New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders
    New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders Burke, Minstrel Definite New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders
    New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders Sanford, Minstrel Definite New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders
    No Troupe Definite No Troupe
    Sivori Band Definite Sivori

    Events at Music Hall

    Event Date Venue Location Film
    Lecture - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Catlin & Museum/Lecture Troupe
    Minstrel Show - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Ethiopian Serenaders (1844)
    Minstrel Show - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Ethiopian Serenaders (1844)
    Exhibition - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Ioway Indians
    Exhibition - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Ioway Indians
    Minstrel Show - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Ethiopian Serenaders (Van Dwyer, 1846)
    Minstrel Show - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Ethiopian Serenaders (Van Dwyer, 1846)
    Minstrel Show - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders
    Minstrel Show - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders
    Minstrel Show - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Minstrel Show - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Exhibition - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle No Troupe
    Exhibition - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle No Troupe
    Exhibition - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle No Troupe
    Exhibition - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle No Troupe
    Lecture - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Copway, George
    Concert - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Sivori
    Exhibition - Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Brown, William Wells

    Bibliographic Sources

    View a list of abbreviations.

    • Newcastle Chronicle January 23, 1852: Referenced in University of Bristol, Barker Collection.
    • (Under Newcastle - Grainger Music Hall)
    • (Search 'Gaiety Newcastle').
    • Newcastle Upon Tyne: Graham, 1971