Little Theatre, Upperthorpe

Does anyone have any info/memories of this theatre? It was on a back street in Upperthorpe. It was (as the name suggests) very small, holding maybe 100 people max. I was in a band that used to rehearse there circa 1968/9

Think it was on Skipton Street at the back of the Oxford Picture Palace. It was if I remember rightly just a window and doorway. Hope docmel may shine a little light when he see's the thread.

I do have some vague memories of this - but no name comes to mind, but I certainly know the street - I will call Mum and Dad bit later and see if they can recall it

Read this article - there is mention of the Little Theatre towards the end of it - looks like it belonegd to the YMCA

http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/special/shefed.html

The people who set up that theatre are the ones that built the Merlin Theatre at Nether Edge along with buying the big house and the Kindergarten. Two of the women, Janet and May, are still alive and well and very much involved with Tintagel House trust.

Freeman College which now owns the site and is part of Ruskin Mill Educational Trust (named after Arnold Freeman, founder of the little theatre) carry on the ethos of that little theatre. It was rooted in Steiner Philosophy and continues to go strong in Sheffield due to the solid foundations of that Little Theatre.

Cheers for the info. One thing I do remember was the guy who lived in the theatre. I suppose he was a kind of caretaker, but he wasn't very old.

As you entered the main door, there was a curtain covering the wall to the left and behind that was a big hole which had literally been knocked through the wall. The hole led into the caretaker's living quarters, bedroom etc. I didn't think much of it at the time, but in retrospect it seems very odd!

Think it was on Skipton Street at the back of the Oxford Picture Palace. It was if I remember rightly just a window and doorway. Hope docmel may shine a little light when he see's the thread.

Now I remember, it was Shipton Street!

Cheers for the info. One thing I do remember was the guy who lived in the theatre. I suppose he was a kind of caretaker, but he wasn't very old.

 

As you entered the main door, there was a curtain covering the wall to the left and behind that was a big hole which had literally been knocked through the wall. The hole led into the caretaker's living quarters, bedroom etc. I didn't think much of it at the time, but in retrospect it seems very odd!

I'm not sure who that would have been. I doubt it would have been Christopher Boulton or Arnold Freeman. It would be nice toknow who he was though. Maybe he is still around?

I lived on Shipton Street opposite the Litle Theatre and had a couple of parts in plays there, fabulous memories , although it was not very big it seemed amazing to me at that time

I was a in a play, Julius Ceasar at the Little theatre in the 1950's  I was Portia and still remember my words.

I went once or twice to this theatre in '67 or so with Pegasus theatre group gang ( youth theatre group attached to Playhouse) - recall walking there from town past rubble of demolished back to backs.. 

I have a copy of a play by Arnold Freeman. Saint Paul. 
Also recall dressing up in an old gold/green long velvet dress from there, but I didn't take any parts in plays there.

I think it was where the old Housing office/ carpark is on Shipton St. 

I was in a youth theatre group and we played at the Little Theatre, Shipton Street, Upperthorpe in the mid to late 1960s. It was also used by Theatre Vanguard, the Playhouse Education Group and a couple of experimental theatre companies played there.. There was a pub called the Scarborough Arms close by.