The formidable Kemble theatrical family included the great Mrs Sarah Siddons, who played the old Newcastle Theatre Royal (on the western corner of Grey Street and Mosley Street) in 1789. Stephen Kemble, Sarah Siddons' brother, was said to be the only approachable member of the family. He was a fair actor and appeared in Dublin and London before taking a lease on theatres in Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1791. His production of The Beggar's Opera in Edinburgh (1792) employed a largely Newcastle cast. No fewer than eight new theatres had sprung up in Northumberland between 1770 and 1800; Kemble's circuit now included Morpeth, Alnwick and Berwick, as well as North Shields. In 1800, Scarborough was added.
Kemble took over the management of the Newcastle Theatre Royal and guided it through many celebrated seasons with London stars, before relinquishing the post in 1806. Such figures as Liston, Emery (q.v.) and Charles Kemble appeared , while in 1805 Master Betty, the 'Young Roscius', performed before 'the largest house that ever was in Newcastle'. The House of Commons had adjourned in 1805 to watch Betty in Hamlet.
Billy Purvis (q.v.) destined to be one of the North East's most famous clowns, worked as call boy and drummer at the Theatre Royal and one evening ran into Kemble (as Falstaff) and sent the great man sprawling. A retaliatory boot did nothing to diminish Billy's stage-struck enthusiasm. Eneas McKenzie relates that after his retirement as manager, a cartload of rubbish was brought from Kemble's house in Newgate Street and dumped in what is now Blackett Street. A doll, used in the play Pizarro was found and thought to be the body of a child. The coroner was much vexed 'on discovering that it was a mere doll.'
Kemble was of imposing girth and could play Falstaff without padding, which he did at Covent garden in 1806. A whimsical, merry and learned companion, he was a friend of Thomas Bewick; he lived in a large house opposite the White Cross in Newgate Street. Soon after 1800, Kemble moved from Newcastle to Durham, and lived in retirement after 1806, producing a book of rather feeble verse in 1809. He was buried in the Chapel of the Nine Altars in the cathedral, alongside the celebrated dwarf Count Boruwlaski (q.v.).