The 'remarkable place' where stars were made

The once grand church is a shadow of its former self. Weeds grow around the distinctive yellow brickwork and the doors are boarded up.

A huge rose window still looks out on to the main road, but several panes are smashed through years of neglect.

Today, few clues remain that this dilapidated building in Hull helped launch the careers of some household names in drama.

In the 1980s and 1990s, hundreds of young people spent their Saturdays here at the Northern Theatre.

And, for many, it was their first taste of the magic of showbusiness.

"I remember the smell of the costume room – what felt like thousands and thousands of rows of costumes," Katie Wilson, who still works in the industry, tells the Hidden East Yorkshire podcast.

"You could go in and sift through them.

"I remember the excitement of Saturday mornings, waking up thinking yes, I've got the whole day at Northern Theatre – starting with drama, then musical theatre, improvisation, then a nip down to Boyes's, then a nip down to the sandwich shop... really fond memories."

Built in 1880 as the City Temple – a Methodist chapel – the large building at the junction of Hessle Road and Madeley Street has been partly demolished to keep it safe, following a devastating fire in 2023.

While the interiors are gutted, an old sign for Studio 2 – the name of the theatre space – clings to the wall.

It was here that Richard Green and Bryan Williams found a home for the theatre company they founded some 50 years ago.

Andy Pearson, who is now the artistic director of E52 theatre company in Hull, recalls what it was like at the time.

"It had a small, 40-seat studio theatre downstairs and then there was a larger space upstairs where the bigger dance classes happened," he says. "And then there were a succession of different rooms where you had private drama lessons.

"Downstairs there was a scene dock for when they would make the big shows at [Hull] New Theatre and Bryan Williams would make these incredible sets."

But the real magic of the place was in the freedom it offered young people to do whatever they wanted to do, Andy says.

Richard, who was the principal of the company and theatre school until 2008, remembers it as a "joyous place".

"The kids really, really loved it," he says. "I keep getting messages from past students saying how important I was to them and how important the school was to them.

"When things were rough at home – some of them did come from homes that were rough – they found Northern as a refuge.

"You don't think at the time that you're doing anything out of the ordinary, but obviously you are."

He is proud of the many young people who went on to have successful careers in the industry. They include the musician Roland Gift, comedian Lucy Beaumont, actress Sheridan Smith and Derren Little, who wrote Benidorm and The Catherine Tate Show.

"With Sheridan, I knew from the moment I met her, the moment I saw her, that she was a star," Richard says. "I knew she was going to make it."

Northern also gave budding playwrights a place to start. Among them is Richard Vergette, who says he learned his craft there.

He recalls being in a production of Pacific Overtures, by Stephen Sondheim, which went up to the Edinburgh Fringe and got a five-star review.

"It opened in that tiny space in Madeley Street," he says. "It was an amazing time.

"Those of us who had the privilege to work there and to put on theatre there, we're still around, we're still doing it, and I'll always be grateful to Madeley Street for the opportunities it afforded me.

"It was a remarkable place – unique I think. And so many people owe Northern Theatre, and Madeley Street, a debt of gratitude.

"The physical building may have gone, but the spirit of it very much lives on."

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