'I had best time of my life building this theatre'

The architect of a theatre building which was the first of its kind in Europe when it was built almost 40 years ago says he still feels "touched" when he sees its auditorium full of people.

John Sambrook, who designed the New Vic theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, said the building took four years to plan and another two to build.

It remains one of only a handful in the country and is among only a small number of purpose-built theatres in-the-round globally.

"It was the best time of my working life, designing and building this building," Mr Sambrook said.

"I thoroughly enjoyed it more than anything else in the world, it was absolutely brilliant."

He worked closely with the late theatre director Peter Cheeseman who is credited with having pioneered theatre in-the-round in the UK.

The theatre company which took on the building previously operated from a former Victorian cinema in Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent.

Designing the New Vic, however, was a particular challenge as there were no existing blueprints or previous examples to follow.

During planning, the late Mr Cheeseman decreed that no member of the audience should be more than 28 feet (8.5m) away from the main acting area, Mr Sambrook said.

He said that for theatre in-the-round to work as intended, the audience had to feel as though they were part of the performance and the actors had to, in effect, be part of the audience.

Opening night was "wonderful," Mr Sambrook added.

"The big satisfaction was seeing what I had drawn actually come to life and work as I thought it was going to.

"I'm very, very proud of it. When I go into the auditorium, when it's full, when it's packed, I feel touched by it, that what I've designed is full, and there's 600 people in there enjoying what the various directors have put on the stage."

Mr Sambrook – who was born and bred in north Staffordshire and still lives locally – has retained a connection to the building, and has been consulted on alterations and extensions in the intervening years.

It was part of the building's ethos that theatre was made there "by local people, for local people, but also representing local voices and local people on the national and the international stage," according to its creative director, Theresa Heskins.

She described her job as being "the best job in the world," with her own time at the theatre reaching two decades just a few months after the theatre's milestone anniversary in 2026.

There were many aspects of putting on a play which were made impossible by its design, she conceded, for instance large pieces of set were out of the question as they blocked lines of sight.

"In here, it's really more about the performer and the relationship between the performer and the audience.

"I think that's one of the reasons audiences love it, and it's one of the reasons performers love it as well."

The theatre's set up is still considered highly unusual today.

"There's not a single part of the stage where you can hide and not be seen by the audience," Ms Heskins added.

"One of the things that I love most about it is that it includes the audience in the most amazing way. It feels very accessible.

"You feel very at home in the space. You can see other members of the audience opposite you."

The theatre's paint shop and construction workshop and costume production facilities are also all based on site, in addition to the back office functions such as graphic designers and accountants and people working in sales and catering.

"What I normally describe it as is a space with a very strong personality and we have to make the shows with it, but what it does do is really make us use our imagination."

Ms Heskins, who had previously run outdoor theatres, said it was joy to work with such an unconventional space.

The New Vic has subsequently hosted teams from other theatres who have visited to help them plan their own venues and learn from how the New Vic operated.

This included the New Vic's own production of Marvellous which went on to be the opening production at Soho Place in London when it launched in 2022 as the first new-build West End theatre in 50 years.

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