History of Drama

Drama has not always been part of the RGS curriculum, but evidence of early dramatic productions by students can be found as early as the 1860s.

Early Performances

Public dramatic performances appear to have started at a 19th century version of an annual ‘prize-day’ ceremony, where boys were publicly examined by the headmaster and other teachers in various subjects. The first recorded event was on 19 June 1861 at the Assembly Rooms on Westgate Road. Students performed a ‘French play’ written by Mr d'Acosta, the French teacher.

*Postcard with illustration of the Old Assembly Rooms, 1789. [RGS Archives, ref: SUR/125]*

A few years later, plays both in French and English were performed.

Photographs survive of the students involved in these performances on 19 June 1866, taken at our Charlotte Square home. They are the earliest surviving photographs of students at RGS. The plays performed were Bombastes Furioso by William Barnes Rhodes, and the trial scene from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Possibly the first drama production the school performed, separately from an examination scenario, was on 1 March 1897. Students performed Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at the Old Art Gallery theatre in Grainger Street.

Photograph of Headmaster James Snape and a group of students at No. 6 Charlotte Square, in costume for an 'English Play', The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. c.1866-67. RGS Archives, ©RGS Newcastle.

*Photograph of students and Headmaster, outside in the yard of the Charlotte Square school. The students are dressed in costume, for a drama performance of 'A French Play', Bombastes Furioso* by William Barnes Rhodes. c.1866-67. [RGS Archives]

Drama Develops

Once settled into our Eskdale Terrace building, students had access to far superior facilities for productions, firstly on the Main Hall stage, then in the theatre that opened in 1930.

The first production shown in the new theatre in 1930 was The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont, produced by a co-curricular club called the Castrian Society.

*Photograph from the performance of 'Knight of the Burning Pestle', in Novo magazine, December 1930. RGS Archives*

*Programme for the XXI Club performance of Pinero's 'Dandy Dick', 17-23 December 1930. RGS Archives [ref: 651]*

*Photograph of the new RGS theatre, printed in the December 1933 Novo supplement. RGS Archives*

The Twenty-One Club (XXI) was formed in the same year by English master Mr Simpson (1929-45). The aim of the XXI Club, made up of 21 members, was to “study and produce works of Literature and Drama”. Their first play was Dandy Dick by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero in December 1930. The XXI Club was still performing plays in the early 2000s.

Old Novocastrians also took advantage of the new theatre, and began performing plays there, the first being A.A. Milne’s The Dover Road on 27 and 28 February 1933.

Penrith Productions

Programme for the XXI Club performance of Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot, 8th-11th February 1943. Held in the Penrith Playhouse, during the WWII evacuation. With student signatures. From the WS Wood Collection. RGS Archives [ref: RGS/ONS/47]

Although the whole school was uprooted and evacuated to Penrith during the Second World War, dramatic productions continued to be performed.

The XXI Club was able to hold two informal readings in the Autumn of 1939 at Penrith, from The Merchant of Venice and Goldsmith’s Good Natured Man. The first full drama performance was On the Frontier by W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, in the Toc H Room.

A number of plays were performed to or produced, with help from the Penrith Players.

*Photograph from the production of Murder in the Cathedral, in Penrith 1943. RGS Archives [ref: 483]*

Success of the Stage

From the mid-20th century, productions were produced by various form or year groups, or by other clubs or societies.

Plays in French, German and other languages were performed regularly, by a society called The Linguists. There are even examples of plays in classical Greek, such as the Classics Department production of Oedipus Tyrannus in 1975. RGS would regularly collaborate on various dramatic and musical productions with girls from the Central Newcastle High School, then located directly opposite.

*Photograph from the April 1983 RGS and CNHS joint production of Pirates of Penzance, by Gilbert & Sullivan. Produced by Jeremy Thomas. Photograph by Nicholas Posner. RGS Archives.*

*Photograph of Jeremy Thomas, c.2000s. RGS Archives*

*Programme for the production of Oedipus Tyrannus, 1-3 May 1975. RGS Archives*

Whilst drama flourished in the co-curricular realm, it was not a formal part of the subject curriculum until much later. It was taken to new heights by influential teacher Jeremy Thomas (Staff 1977-05). Mr Thomas started RGS in the English department, going on to become Head of English for 12 years. He taught the year-long drama option within the General Studies course for the Lower Sixth Form for many years, before being appointed as our first Head of Drama. He introduced AS Level Theatre Studies to RGS in 2001.

*Images from the tribute to Jeremy Thomas (1955-2006), published in Novo magazine, Vol. 113, May 2007. RGS Archives, [ref: RGS/NOV/414]*

Drama at RGS has continued to expand in more recent years. The opening of the new Miller Theatre and Performing Arts Centre in 2006 greatly enhanced the facilities available for productions.

The Miller Theatre was named after RGS Headmaster James FX Miller (Staff 1994-2008).

Large musical productions such as Les Misérables in 2012 could be technically ambitious with staging and lighting alongside talented student performers.

The recent addition of the agora in 2019 to the latest building has opened up new dramatic opportunities. As this rectangular sunken space has seating on both sides, more informal dramatic performances can take place. An innovative production of The Revenger’s Tragedy in 2023 used the space in a way that immersed the audience in the performance.

*Photograph from the production of Les Misérables, 2012. ©RGS Newcastle*

Revenger's Tragedy 2023

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