A meeting in October 1923 formed an Executive Committee for a professional Company, consisting of Wilfred Vickers, W.C. Landon, C.V. McNally, A. Ballard, H.W.
At the first Annual Meeting in January 1924, the aims were formulated: Their first performances took place at the Little Theatre in Shipton Street.
In 1928 the Company gained a permanent venue [1] and moved to the former Temperance Hall, in Townhead Street, which became known as the Sheffield Playhouse.
In order to resolve the financial crisis the Company arranged to reform in Southport, a de-restricted area, and carry on the business there.
The theatre was in a dishevelled condition, following its utilitarian usage during the war, but the Company, helped by willing volunteers successfully renovated the auditorium in 1945, allowing it to re-open to the theatre-going public, with the appropriately titled play, The Peaceful Inn.
Stripped back to its bare walls, the interior was entirely renewed as a sleek 'Fifties' auditorium replaced the stippled decor of the out-dated theatre.
In March 1954, the theatre re-opened and its success continued unabated, under the leadership of Geoffrey Ost, who had been the director since 1938, a service broken only by his wartime call-up.