Come and tell us your stories about the Coliseum...

Next Wednesday 12 October the Coliseum is hosting a special event to celebrate the last 125 years of the theatre’s rich history. This is part of a much larger project that has been made possible through funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund which helps communities learn more about their local heritage. The premise is to make the country’s heritage more accessible to everyone. The money we’ve received has been allocated from the Young Roots programme which is specifically designed to engage young people with their heritage.

As part of the project a team of young people will record a collection of oral history clips with people associated with the theatre’s history including staff members, actors and our audience. They’ll tell the team their fondest memories of the Coliseum. The group will also organise a historical exhibition which will be displayed at the theatre – this will include images of old programmes, posters and other materials from the Coliseum’s history.

The group of young people got together for the first time a few weeks ago and have been working with staff at the Coliseum to organise the 125 year anniversary celebration event along with project leader Carly – the Coliseum’s outreach officer. On the night we’ll be sharing photographs from the archive, screening a film of the theatre’s history and hearing stories from special performers who have graced the stage. Kenneth Alan Taylor will be hosting the evening – and I’m sure, telling us a few secrets about the theatre – along with some entertainment from Bernard Wrigley.

This evening of memory sharing will contribute to a piece of theatre that the group will devise during the project and they’ll perform it in the new year. There will also be a DVD made of the whole process which will itself become part of the archive.

One major part of the project that I haven’t mentioned yet is that the entire Coliseum archive has been boxed up and transported over to the Local Studies and Archives building on Union Street. Every last scrap from the very beginnings will be carefully catalogued. This will all be digitally scanned as well so it’ll be much easier for the people to access it – which is the whole point of the project! If you’d like to attend the event on Wednesday ring our box office on 0161 624 2829 and book your free ticket.

I must mention the fantastic tour of Equus that London Classic Theatre have been performing at the Coliseum all week. It’s a haunting and moving piece of the theatre and certainly worth a look before the tour leaves us on Saturday.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director