The building is Grade I listed[5] and has hosted the celebrated Georgian actor Edmund Kean, and other figures such as Dame Sybil Thorndike, Joyce Grenfell and Alan Bennett.

[6] Dame Judi Dench is the theatre's president and Hamish Ogston and Sir Thomas Allen are vice-presidents.

[8] The final amount raised well exceeded the initial £122,500 expected, and they were able to undertake building work to create two bars, a new box office and update other facilities.

The youth theatre also produces new works performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, written by Shields.

In 2018 they performed the award-winning new play This Is Yorkshire and in 2019 they premiered a new adaptation of an Oscar Wilde classic titled Dorian Gray.