The Hulme Playhouse, in Manchester, was constructed next door to the Hulme Hippodrome and originally opened as the Hippodrome Theatre itself in 1902. The Hippodrome was the larger of the two theatres and was built ‘back to back’ with the Playhouse.
The theatres were designed by JJ Alley, who also designed the larger theatre next door, and both were connected by an arcade. Alley also designed several other theatres in Manchester, including the Metropole, the Royal Osborne, and the Queens Park Hippodrome, along with the Pavilion Theatre in Liverpool, and several others in the ‘Broadhead Circuit’.
The Playhouse originally had a capacity of 1,500 and was used as a cinema and base for touring repertory productions.
A little confusion occurred when the Hippodrome and Playhouse swapped names.
The 91Èȱ¬ bought the theatre in 1956, and the smaller Playhouse was used as a recording studio for the Northern Dance Orchestra and Northern Radio Orchestra, as well as many other light entertainment productions.
During its 30-plus years’ use as a music studio and theatre, it produced tens of thousands of hours of material primarily for Radio 2. Six-day weeks were common, the NDO and NRO recording during the week, and usually a sitcom with live audience on Saturday.
It gave many acts their break into show business, including Morecambe and Wise and Hinge and Bracket – even the Beatles played there.
I remember a wonderful session with Barbara Dickson and her band, who recorded flawless performances of ten items in two hours. Then there was ‘Fivepenny Piece’ – excellent musicians, and great fun.
A Wurlitzer from Blackpool was eventually installed, giving even more output for Radio 2. Many sessions for the late lamented The Organist Entertains were made here, either by its resident presenter Nigel Ogden, or others equally talented who came in to do sessions. Nigel told me that he would come to the Playhouse early to turn on the blower, and allow the elderly Wurlitzer to warm up; he said on unlocking the door to the machine’s innards he would hear scurrying and squeaking as the resident rodents went to hide. They must have known what was coming – it was LOUD!
The 91Èȱ¬ sold the Playhouse in 1987. The NRO was disbanded and the Wurlitzer removed. I understand it was sold for spares. The end of a wonderful era.
In its final years, the Playhouse became an arts centre and a church; the latter spent a lot of time lovingly restoring it. It is still usable today, but not really as a theatre as the stall seating has been removed, giving it a more diverse use.
On the subject of the Beatles, Peter Pilbeam, who started mixing the NRO /NDO with Alyn Ainsworth in the 50s, and was eventually promoted to producer, oversaw the revolution to pop in the 60s – something that was somewhat alien to him. He complained that he would always go home with a headache after these sessions.
It was his responsibility to give many budding pop groups an audition, including the Beatles, who at the time had no recording contract. With a few comments for improvement, Peter passed them for broadcast, and they appeared in 1962 and broadcast from the Playhouse to rapturous applause.
They soon got a recording contract and were always grateful to Peter for their break into show business.
Syd Lawrence, who played trumpet with the NDO, left the band to form his own ‘Syd Lawrence Orchestra’. Syd had great affection not only for the lovely acoustics of the Playhouse but its excellent small café too, and in his early days in the late 60s it was decided that he would do some live shows with his band from the Playhouse for the 91Èȱ¬, as well as sessions for the shows of the day, such as Jimmy Young and Gloria Hunniford. With its high roof, the acoustic was not the only attraction, and the 91Èȱ¬ in Manchester offered top flight sound mixers of the day, such as Ian Parr, Dick Wilson, Tony Worthington and David Fleming-Williams.
Syd chose David to do his music recordings, and the combination of his extreme skills, and Syd’s attention to detail, not just musically, but listening to the mix too, produced some of the finest Big Band music ever heard in England.
On a lighter note, it was generally agreed that Syd’s hearing was so good he could hear a mouse break wind at 100 yards.
Four months ago, a box of tapes arrived with David, which were for digitising. He had not heard them for 30+ years, and we wondered if they were playable. So listening on my professional reel-to-reel tape machine on monitor speakers, we put on a random tape. Only seconds in we looked at each other in amazement; not only were the sounds superb, with Syd and his band playing quite magically, but the recorded quality was excellent too.
More listening, and even more excitement at what we had. It was Syd’s original band recorded from 1969 (in mono) to 1987 (in stereo) – well over a hundred perfect tracks, sounding as though they had been recorded yesterday. As a 91Èȱ¬ licensee, it was obvious that this material needed to be put back in the public domain and give the 91Èȱ¬ the opportunity to use these recordings too.
With a license, a considerable amount of work, and blessing from the Musicians Union, we put together a four-CD set of the best of Syd at the Playhouse, in a very limited edition. We had help from a former conductor and pianist with the band, Bryan Pendleton, who came round at my request to give titles and soloists on the 98 tracks. An amazing day, an amazing guy! He got 102 of the 103 tracks in the space of 90 minutes, sometimes having heard only a couple of notes.
And so the four-CD set was produced to critical acclaim from musicians who know about these things, and it will be the last production by the NDO project, which in ten years has saved virtually all the 91Èȱ¬’s regional big bands from extinction and ensured that their music will be heard by future generations, who will I am sure be inspired by it.
On a sad note, we lost our friend and colleague, Peter Pilbeam, in July 2023, and we decided that the CD set would be dedicated to him. It will be made on a non-profit basis, and donations to one of our two music-based charities will be encouraged.
Members of the public will be able to purchase from October, but this is a seriously limited edition, so early reservations are encouraged.
Eulogy for the Playhouse
Hear those sound waves
reflecting from studio walls
ethereal dots on paper
dancing, bouncing
then they are gone:
forever
Though the roof still leaks!
(Rod Cotter)
Truly the Playhouse Manchester was indeed ‘A palace of dreams’.
Ian Reed
(unpaid archivist of all the 91Èȱ¬’s regional big bands and light orchestras)
www.northerndanceorchestra.org.uk