Newcastle Players

Newcastle Players is an amateur dramatic group drawing its membership from both North Staffordshire and Cheshire.

Since 1935 we have produced at least two plays a year varying in style from comedies to thrillers and have performed these at the Mitchell Memorial Theatre in Hanley since 1958.

We are always looking to extend our membership and particularly want to encourage young people to join us. Our minimum membership age is 16.

For many years we have designed and built our sets at our own workshop at Hartshill, Stoke on Trent. A team meets regularly for several months prior to a production and willing hands are always welcome to join in the construction and decorating.

We were founded in 1934 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, and performed originally at the Marsh Street Assembly Rooms, followed by two plays at St Andrew’s Hall, Porthill, five plays at St Giles Parish Hall and finally the Municipal Hall, Newcastle. In 1958 we moved to the Mitchell Memorial Theatre, Hanley, Stoke on Trent where all our performances have since been performed. Since 1935 a total of 222 full length or one act productions totalling 815 performances were produced up to Autumn 2007. (For a complete list of the full length plays see Past Performances and several photos from them can be seen in the Photo Gallery

Our talk A Word on Plays has been given to a host of different groups over the years: Women’s Institutes, Rotary Clubs, Housewives’ Circles, Church Groups and Fellowships, to name but a few. It takes a light-hearted look at the amateur theatre from the actor’s side of the proscenium arch and, we hope, it communicates our enjoyment in entertaining our audiences. For for further details email newcastle.players@lineone.net.

We are affiliated to National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA), which provides valuable back up in many aspects of theatre work.