The Northcott Theatre is a theatre situated on the Streatham Campus of the University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, England. It opened in 1967 and was run until 2010 by the Northcott Theatre Foundation, when the company ceased operating after a period in administration. The theatre is now known as Exeter Northcott Theatre and became a registered charity (no. 1151620) in June 2013.
The Northcott is the seventh building in Exeter to be used as a theatre.
In 1962, the Theatre Royal, Exeter, was demolished to be replaced by an office block; however, there were many people in Exeter who were determined that the city should not be without a theatre for very long. Early in 1962, Mr George Vernon Northcott (1891-1963) had started negotiations with the board of directors of the Theatre Royal with the view to “saving” the theatre, and its re-creation as a theatre and arts centre. A small group from the University of Exeter prepared a memorandum explaining how they saw the Theatre Royal functioning in the kind of way that Mr Northcott visualised and outlining some ideas.