Based in the town centre of Blyth, the Phoenix theatre is a fantastic arts resource complete with a 300 seat theatre space, rehearsal space, bar and foyer gallery. The theatre programme successfully combines both amateur and professional performances and attracts audiences from a broad area including North Tyneside and rural Northumberland.
In the early 1990’s the Blyth Arts and Community Association operated a small amateur theatre group out of a converted church. The building was condemned because of an unsafe roof in 1994. An energetic amateur committee identified the opportunity to regenerate their site. With combined funding from the National Lottery, The Foundation for Sport and Arts, local authority and other local sources the new building with a 300 seat theatre opened in 1997.
The theatre presents a regular programme of professional performing arts to its local community and has successfully brought amateur and professional practitioners alongside each other to develop work for the community.