Our History

Opening in the early 1900's, the Alexandra Picture House opened showing projected films and documentaries from the ground floor's 500-seat auditorium. You entered through the box office which was the middle door of the three on Corporation Street. The original drawings are in the name of Thomas Calverley esq. and the architect and surveyor was Wm. Allan Dew Lic. R.I.B.A

Above the Alexandra Picture House was the Billiard Hall on the first floor, with entry on our third door.

The building operated for over fifty years under this brand. The balcony inside the theatre is still the original and housed the projector. If you look carefully today, you will still notice gas fixtures where the original gas lighting was and we havent removed the original taps.

The Alexandra was closed in 1950 and works began on the conversion for Hyde Festival Theatre. Whilst there was a huge impact on the building on the exterior, a lot of internal features were preserved.

In typical 1950s fashion of using 'blocked' cement to change the appearance, the new auditorium of 230 seats was installed and the Billiard Hall was closed to form one large hall.

In 1951, the committee was formed with the purpose of providing facilities to the inhabitants of Hyde District to promote and advance music, drama and art in the borough. A  mission statement that is still used today.

The works were completed in 1952 and the theatre was named after the Festival of Britain. However, the theatre was not formally opened as it was fundraising for internal fixures and furnishings. One of the fundraising events listed was a Dog Show. 

The theatre was formally opened to the public on 31st October 1953.

Photo Credit to Joyce Alldred

Mrs Marjorie Bayes, shown in this photograph, was the Mayor of Hyde. Our first floor community hall was named after her love, passion and support given to the theatre.

Whenever you now enter the theatre, you will see signage to the Madge Bayes Hall. A tribute that continues to this day for her service to the community.

David was Hyde Festival Theatre's first secretary and was one of the founding members. Having voluntarily served for the first twenty years, this tablet was installed in the box office in 1971 and still remains at the forefront of the theatre fifty years on.

Our constitution was last updated and sent to the Charity's Commission in January 1964. 

Outlining the purpose of the committee, rules of the association and governing how the theatre is managed and how it operates, this document is still upheld and kept by the Theatre's secretary today. 

During this time, our former Chairman, Mr P Wright held the reins of the theatre for an astonishing 22 years. Mr Wright was an ambassador for many projects at modernising the theatre. He would organise many fundraisers, including the annual 24 hour plays, that would fund the upkeep and development of the theatre. 

During this time, Mr Wright advocated for new LED lighting, Built the Bar, Changed backstage areas and public restroom areas - just to name a few.

In 2009, the theatre was featured in the McDonalds 'Pantomime' advert. New festoon lighting was fitted and was in use until 2020. You can see the advert here:

McDonald's - Panto (2009, UK) - YouTube

To acknowledge Mr Wrights dedication and commitment to the theatre, a bell in the bar was installed with a plaque for his recognition. 

March 2020: Hyde Musical Society were hiring the theatre and conducting their dress rehearsal for their production, All Shook Up. The announcement came that the theatre must close due to Coronavirus.

The full Council was called of all committee constituted groups and individual members. Their hands were tied. The theatre was put into immediate closure until further notice. Hyde Musical Society were granted permission from the Council to leave their set and staging left in the theatre but to remove all valuables and equipment as the theatre was securely locked. It was quiet, eerily quiet, as the world stopped, the theatre was abandoned.

Donations were received and the 'Sponsor a Seat' campaign was relaunched allowing members of the public to sponsor a seat in a name. These funds assisted with a few minor developments to the interior decoration of the theatre.

Then the rules changed, small groups were able to meet again but the theatre could not open as we were too large. So measures were put in place including socially distanced boxes on the stage and we were grant funded a sanitising fogger. Some groups bought their weekly rehearsals back to the main stage of the theatre, socially distanced and it was nice to hear music finally being played and people dancing on the stage to an empty auditorium.

The Theatre was approaching their final reserves, the Council opened their own 'in-house' bar and members club. Armed with protective Covid screens between tables and a new POS system for the bar which allowed table service, funds were finally coming into the theatre. It is worth noting that the Council were applying for grant funding and receiving funding from the 'Business Rates' from Tameside MBC. But the Officers were assessing plans for the permanent closure of the theatre and at the lowest point of the pandemic, estimated the theatre was just 27 days away from permanent closure.

During this closure, The Theatre's Trust granted the theatre £5,000 towards the installation of a new fire detection system.

The Theatre's doors were then finally re-opened to the Public in June 2021. With a socially distanced audience (Max. 90), the Theatre was finally open. Productions had been filmed with their cast in small bubbles and we were now showing cinematic recordings of these shows. Sleeping Beauty was the first public performance, with a small cast of 6 performing socially distanced behind plastic screens interacting with the big screen on the main stage.

In September 2021, the theatre was again open for business following a little repaint and clean on the front bottom 12 feet at the historic 'Annual August Closure.' In addition, the Duchy of Lancaster funded the conversion of the Male Cast Bathroom to form the new Dressing Room 4/Green Room facility. The Volunteer Programme was also launched allowing people within the community to volunteer in their spare time, in the name of the theatre, on the bar and assisting with Front of House.

The first production with a live full cast was from Artsync on Sunday 5th September 2021. The theatre could now fully reopen to our maximum capacity of 230 guests, per performance. There was still some COVID measures in place such as mask wearing, lateral flow testing advisory for the cast and crew and if you had a temperature, it was advised you didn't attend.

The Committee drafted new policies and procedures and planned for any further closures of the theatre but since September 2021, the theatre has been open and hasn't closed. All restrictions implemented by the committee were removed in March 2022 relating to COVID and replaced the restrictions with advisories that were abolished in May 2022.

The Theatre would like to thank everyone who supported HFA at this very sad time. If you donated to us, was a part of the rehearsals at HFT, booked to see our President's virtual fundraiser 'Your Theatre Needs You' or sponsored a seat - Thank You!  You truly have potentially saved the theatre from permanent closure.

The theatre was granted £20,000 towards the professional repair of the front of the theatre and to aid with the theatre's kerb appeal. This coincided with the theatre's 70th anniversary year.

In July 2022, the theatre was closed for its annual 'August Closure' and scaffolding was erected. There was a total of 329 tasks to do over the summer closure, both inside and outside of the theatre to revamp and modernise the theatre's brand, image and identity.

This was the opportunity to clean and repaint the front exterior of the theatre. There was many issues to fix which was facilitated by professional companies, such as the replacement of the rotten apex. But otherwise, the entire front was cleaned, repaired and redecorated by our own volunteers. This included committee members, members of the theatre's volunteer programme and an open appeal to the community seeking help.

It is unlikely that the front of the theatre will have scaffolding up again any time soon - but there is a little hidden, secret message at the top for whoever next goes up there. 

New LED lighting has also been installed on the theatre's front, aligned with our environmental strategy for the future,  with the letters replaced to match the theatres new identity and brand too. The old letters have remained in storage until the committee has decided what will happen to them. 

A HUGE thank you to everyone who helped brew up, clean, paint, repair or was involved in the theatre's biggest challenge of recent years. So much work has changed inside too and the theatre was declared ready for the reopening by the theatre's President, comedian Stephen Bailey, on his visit to the theatre on Tuesday 6th September 2022. 

The formal reopening was declared to be on Saturday 10th September 2022 and named 'The Bigg Reopening' in honour of Roger and Carol Bigg who are celebrating their 50th year as a volunteer on the HFA committee. The reopening consisted of a short gang show, with performances from Artsync, RBDA, Hyde Musical Society, ShowStoppers Theatre Group, Tameside Youth Drama Group and a clean preview from the 2022 Adult Pantomime Cast. The event was supported too by Sparks Theatre Management.

On Thursday 8th September 2022, the Bigg Reopening was postponed due to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The theatre officers felt they couldn't celebrate the recent achievements and open the theatre formally in the days following the Queens death, considering the theatre also shared its 70th anniversary year with HM The Queen's platinum Jubilee.

The Bigg Reopening was postponed to Saturday 17th September 2022.

As we continue to grow and evolve, we’re thrilled to announce an exciting new chapter in the history of our theatre. The Summer of 2024 brought an important decision from our committee, driven by the overwhelming popularity of our performances. With audiences regularly filling the seats, we recognised the need for a more spacious and efficient bar area to better serve our valued patrons. As a result, plans were set in motion to construct a larger, more modern bar to enhance the overall experience at our theatre.

Thanks to the generous grant funding from the People's Postcode Lottery, we were able to bring this vision to life. A portion of the grant was used to build the new bar in the Madge Bayes Hall, a significant upgrade that promises to improve both functionality and customer satisfaction.

In a heartwarming gesture of gratitude, we chose to honour two of our most dedicated and long-standing committee members, Mr. and Mrs. Bigg, by naming the new bar ‘The Bigg Bar.’ This special tribute recognises their tireless voluntary service, with both Mr. and Mrs. Bigg having served on our committee since 1952. Their unwavering commitment to the theatre and community has had an indelible impact, and it felt only fitting to immortalise their contributions in this way.

The unveiling of The Bigg Bar was a surprise for Mr. and Mrs. Bigg, who were unaware of the committee’s plans until the big reveal. As part of this memorable occasion, the bar’s walls feature signatures from the committee officers at the time, along with a photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Bigg, capturing the essence of their legacy.

Adding a unique touch to the bar’s construction, a £20 note, featuring a portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II, was placed inside the walls. This note symbolises the enduring spirit of generosity and hospitality, as well as a nod to the future. Decades from now, when the walls are eventually taken down or renovated, this piece of history will serve as a rare reminder of the present day – a relic that will surely be a conversation starter for future generations.