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For Theatre Space Grows Louder: NEWS by
Steve Cooke *
Tony Hall, BBC Director General, recently said he wants to “put the Arts at the centre of the BBC.” At all across the arts we aim to put the Arts at the centre of Rochdale. On Wednesday 26 March Gemma Singleton outlined her desire to see a Theatre space at the centre of Rochdale when over thirty people met at her Dance Studio on Mellor Street to contribute their own thoughts and form a Rochdale Theatre Project Committee.
The assembled group represented a range of performing and visual Arts, alongside local councillors, parents of young dancers and others whose primary motivation is care for Rochdale. Gemma opened the meeting with a passionate argument for the creation of a purpose built arts centre with a theatre right in the middle of town to replace the much derided ‘black box’.
“A special space, an arts centre with purpose built theatre, café and cinema; a modern structure, across from award-winning Number One Riverside,” she proposed, “next to the opened up river and Metrolink. People need to go to the theatre to make them smile”.
Gemma can count Anna Friel in her growing army of support. In her letter to Gemma, Anna remembers, “In my teens in Rochdale, I had to traipse off to Oldham Theatre Workshop, an institution which has produced many well-known actors and actresses. Oldham saw the wisdom of investing in its artistic future and provided a forum for youngsters from all backgrounds; a happy alternative to hanging around street corners or sitting in front of a computer screen.”
Anna was echoed in an all cross the arts interview, with young a Rochdale actor. Josh Townsend, thirteen, has been pursuing his passion for acting since he was eight and told us he has to travel to Rawtenstall and Oldham to gain the performance experience he needs.
A similar story was also recounted at the meeting by the mother of a dancer who has to travel out of Rochdale to give her daughter the experience she needs to develop her career.
John Farrington of Rochdale’s Leaky Shed Films explained how he had managed to put together a ‘no budget’ film shot in Rochdale with tremendous goodwill and support from local businesses and RMBC. The film, And She Cried, is to have its Premiere at the Odeon, Sandbrook Park in May but John suggested even more could be achieved if Rochdale had arts space for rehearsal, filming, editing and screening, as well as sprung floors and workshop space.
Writer and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, recently interviewed in the New Statesman, backed up Tony Hall’s aim to “…put the Arts at the centre of the BBC” pointing out that nationally the creative arts industries employ 2 million highly skilled people and amount to 8% of GDP.
Similar local benefits from Gemma’s proposal, of employment and training opportunities for young people, seem self-evident.
Doris Abdul gave a moving and stimulating contribution to the meeting when she told how she had danced as a young girl at the Theatre Royal in Rochdale on the evening of Tuesday, 23 November 1954; in the early hours of the following morning it was destroyed by fire.
“I have been waiting ever since to dance in a theatre in Rochdale,” she said.
The Theatre Royal had stood at Town Meadows for seventy years and the show at the time of the fire starred Tessie O'Shea and The Great Semprini.
Gracie Fields was one of the first to visit the burned down theatre and said she was heartbroken to see the destruction of the venue where she had given so many great performances.
The Rochdale Observer reported at the time that “the future of theatre in Rochdale hangs in the balance”. Sixty years later it still does!
With the establishment of a ten-strong committee and growing support from the arts community and people of Rochdale, Gemma’s theatre project is certainly gaining momentum.
Tony Hall, BBC Director General, recently said he wants to “put the Arts at the centre of the BBC.” At all across the arts we aim to put the Arts at the centre of Rochdale. On Wednesday 26 March Gemma Singleton outlined her desire to see a Theatre space at the centre of Rochdale when over thirty people met at her Dance Studio on Mellor Street to contribute their own thoughts and form a Rochdale Theatre Project Committee.
The assembled group represented a range of performing and visual Arts, alongside local councillors, parents of young dancers and others whose primary motivation is care for Rochdale. Gemma opened the meeting with a passionate argument for the creation of a purpose built arts centre with a theatre right in the middle of town to replace the much derided ‘black box’.
“A special space, an arts centre with purpose built theatre, café and cinema; a modern structure, across from award-winning Number One Riverside,” she proposed, “next to the opened up river and Metrolink. People need to go to the theatre to make them smile”.
Gemma can count Anna Friel in her growing army of support. In her letter to Gemma, Anna remembers, “In my teens in Rochdale, I had to traipse off to Oldham Theatre Workshop, an institution which has produced many well-known actors and actresses. Oldham saw the wisdom of investing in its artistic future and provided a forum for youngsters from all backgrounds; a happy alternative to hanging around street corners or sitting in front of a computer screen.”
Anna was echoed in an all cross the arts interview, with young a Rochdale actor. Josh Townsend, thirteen, has been pursuing his passion for acting since he was eight and told us he has to travel to Rawtenstall and Oldham to gain the performance experience he needs.
A similar story was also recounted at the meeting by the mother of a dancer who has to travel out of Rochdale to give her daughter the experience she needs to develop her career.
John Farrington of Rochdale’s Leaky Shed Films explained how he had managed to put together a ‘no budget’ film shot in Rochdale with tremendous goodwill and support from local businesses and RMBC. The film, And She Cried, is to have its Premiere at the Odeon, Sandbrook Park in May but John suggested even more could be achieved if Rochdale had arts space for rehearsal, filming, editing and screening, as well as sprung floors and workshop space.
Writer and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, recently interviewed in the New Statesman, backed up Tony Hall’s aim to “…put the Arts at the centre of the BBC” pointing out that nationally the creative arts industries employ 2 million highly skilled people and amount to 8% of GDP.
Similar local benefits from Gemma’s proposal, of employment and training opportunities for young people, seem self-evident.
Doris Abdul gave a moving and stimulating contribution to the meeting when she told how she had danced as a young girl at the Theatre Royal in Rochdale on the evening of Tuesday, 23 November 1954; in the early hours of the following morning it was destroyed by fire.
“I have been waiting ever since to dance in a theatre in Rochdale,” she said.
The Theatre Royal had stood at Town Meadows for seventy years and the show at the time of the fire starred Tessie O'Shea and The Great Semprini.
Gracie Fields was one of the first to visit the burned down theatre and said she was heartbroken to see the destruction of the venue where she had given so many great performances.
The Rochdale Observer reported at the time that “the future of theatre in Rochdale hangs in the balance”. Sixty years later it still does!
With the establishment of a ten-strong committee and growing support from the arts community and people of Rochdale, Gemma’s theatre project is certainly gaining momentum.
