Brigend Theatre History
Built in 1891 and starting out life as St. Ninian’s Episcopal Church, Maxwelltown, The Brigend Theatre is steeped in history.
The Brigend Theatre started life as St Ninian’s Church, a “mission church” designed by the Rev. John R. Denham of St. John’s Episcopal Church. It is described in John Gifford’s “The Buildings of Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway”, as ‘a simple rectangle with an apsed east end and round arch windows, built of hammered dressed stone’.
Rev. Denham had campaigned for the abolition of “seat-rents” in order to allow the poor to attend services at St. John’s. The campaign met with resistance at the time, and St. Ninian’s Church was built at the expense of Rev. Denham in order to provide a place of worship in which seats were free. We are grateful to his great-granddaughter, Mrs Liz Denham, for providing us with the following additional resources regarding the origins of our theatre.
In the mid-20th century the building was used as a joiner’s workshop until purchased by Dumfries Musical and Operatic Society in 1971/2 (The Society changed its name to Dumfries Musical Theatre Company at the beginning of 2008).
Considerable changes were made to the rear of the building permitting access to the dressing room and upstairs wardrobe.
Since 1972, the 91 seat theatre has been used as a rehearsal space and for at least one of the Company’s productions each year. It is available for hire and used on a regular basis by others in the local community and by visiting theatre companies, bands and local festival events.
At the end of 2009, The Brigend was listed a category C(S) building by Historic Scotland
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For more information about the technical dimensions and features of our theatre