Galleries

The restored Darlington Hippodrome features three new galleries. The Pantomime Gallery celebrates the history and traditions of pantomime, while the young person's gallery, supported by the Gillian Dickinson Trust, is a changing space dedicated to celebrating and displaying work for and by young people, in and around Darlington. The ground floor heritage promenade hosts changing exhibitions, drawing on the theatre's archival collection.  

What's on in the galleries 

The Catherine Cookson Heritage Gallery - Heritage Promenade

Runs throughout 2022 | Updated exhibits in June 2022

From Page to Stage

Sharing their skills and creativity the Production Design for Stage and Screen and  Costume Interpretation with Design students from The Northern School of Arts will be taking over the Hippodrome’s exhibition with space with an exciting new exhibition- From page to Stage.

This exhibition will guide you through the fascinating process of Design for theatre, stage and screen, from script analysis and research, design concepts, white card modelling and finishing the final product all the while showing the importance of sustainable working and research.

The exhibition will feature the sketch books showing the development of  ideas and concepts to bring the stage to life with sets and costumes and present the scaled set design models and costumes.

The Gillian Dickinson Gallery - Dress Circle Level

This gallery will also contain the 'From Page to Stage' exhibition being shown in The Catherine Cookson Heritage Gallery.

Pantomime Gallery - 2nd Floor

Permanent exhibition

Hooray for the Hipp - 110 Years of Pantomime

Celebrating 110 years of pantomimes at the Hippodrome, this permanent exhibition will guide you through the A-Z of pantomime traditions and popular practices.  Tracing pantomime from its classical and European roots as the commedia dell’arte, through its Victoriana revival, you will be able to learn about the origins of some of your favourite jokes, characters and stories.  

 

Footlights Bar - first floor

Backstage at the Edwardian Theatre

Within the Footlights Bar this permanent exhibition is a chance to step back in time and explore the backstage world of an Edwardian theatre. You will be able to learn the secrets behind the tricks and techniques that astonished Edwardian audiences, such as the ghostly apparitions on stage, flying actors and quick change scenery.