Treading the Boards Exhibition

The latest exhibition in the Lamb Gallery looks at the history of theatre in Dundee in the 19th and 20th centuries. It includes rarely seen material from the University's Archive and Museum Collections and the Lamb Collection of Dundee Central Library.

The Theatre Royal in Castle Street was Dundee's first major theatre, replaced in 1885 by Her Majesty's Theatre & Opera House. Rare programmes and publicity material from both venues is included in the exhibition. Many other theatres followed including the Tivoli, the Empire and the King's Theatre. But the 1910s saw the beginning of the cinema boom in Dundee and by 1930 there were no permanent theatres left in Dundee - all had closed or been converted into picture houses. The birth of Dundee Repertory Theatre in the 1930s filled the gap and the exhibition features a wealth of previously unseen photographs and programmes from the Rep's own collections, recently deposited in the University Archives. They include familiar faces such as Gregor Fisher, Duncan MacRae, Michael York and a young David Tennant.

Also on show is material from the University's own dramatic societies, the first of which was formed around 1911. The items on display highlight some of the activities during the past century of the dramatic society in its various incarnations and also of the Operatic Society. In 1969 the University of Dundee's new Dramatic Society - the Waifs - created history by being the first society to reach the finals of the National Union of Students drama festival on their first attempt.

Other items in the exhibition include some photographs from the Michael Peto Collection that show famous figures from the 1960s, such as the actors Ian McKellen, Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith and the playwright Samuel Beckett.