People are being urged to share their memories and fond recollections of one of the oldest entertainment venues in the island.

Audiences and performers alike are being asked to help celebrate the 120th anniversary of the Gaiety Theatre by sending written, video or recorded memories of their favourite recollections about shows that they have either taken part in or enjoyed watching over the years.

The organisers of the commemorations are also appealing for anyone to send in photographs, imagery, pictures, programmes or any other memorabilia to help to create a gallery as part of their anniversary celebrations, set to take place in July.

The grand old Victorian theatre, one of the finest surviving examples of Italian Renaissance-styled theatres designed by the legendary architect, Frank Matcham, is closed until October at the earliest, but the Isle of Man Government is keen to carry on with plans to mark the anniversary.

The Gaiety Theatre first opened its doors to the public on July 16, 1900, with the first show gracing the famous stage being ’The Telephone Girl’, a production of the West End show featuring Ada Blanche, a well-known star of the UK’s stages at the time.

Since then, the theatre has helped to entertain hundreds of thousands of theatre-goers by hosting singers, dancers and actors from around the world.

’I know how attached many people in our community feel to our beautiful theatre,’ said Emma Callin, the head of the Villa Marina, Gaiety Theatre and the Arts.

’It is testament to that community performing and buying tickets for 120 years that we still have such a fantastic theatre in operation, especially for a small island.

’We would love to hear people’s memories and stories to help us celebrate community theatre engagement and look forward to a time when we can all enjoy it again.’

Written memories can be shared to villagaiety.com and

audio or video memories can be uploaded to [email protected]