Futurist Theatre
 | |
| Address |
Foreshore Road Scarborough, North Yorkshire England |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 54°16′56″N 0°23′38″W / 54.282360°N 0.394000°W |
| Owner | Scarborough Borough Council |
| Capacity | 2,155 |
| Current use | Closed |
| Opened | 1921 |
| Closed | 2014 |
| Years active | 93 |
The Futurist Theatre was a theatre and cinema in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. It is located on Foreshore Road, on the sea front of the South Bay.
The theatre closed on 6 January 2014 after the operator's lease expired. As of January 2014 an alternative operator was being sought.[1]
The Futurist was built as a cinema in 1921. It remained in this role until 1958 when the stage was extended to allow live performances at the venue. The Beatles performed there twice, on 11 December 1963 and on 9 August 1964. Extensions to the stage allowed the popular The Black and White Minstrel Show to perform there many times when it was owned (between 1966 and 1974) by Robert Luff, the producer of the stage version.[2][3] The extension to the stage meant the closure of the adjacent Arcadia Theatre which became a lounge.
During the 1980s, Scarborough Borough Council took over the property and leased the theatre to Apollo Leisure Ltd (UK), who ran it until September 2002.
In December 2002, Barrie C. Stead, who also runs the Hollywood Plaza cinema, took over the Futurist and refurbished the theatre and cinema, installing new projectors, DTS sound system and a new CinemaScope screen.
Every summer there is a summer season with usually the same acts every week in July and August.
The Futurist has the twelfth largest capacity (2,155) of a theatre in the country, and the fifth largest outside London.[4]
In the winter of 2011, the Futurist managed to attract over 16,000 people during eight sell-out performances of Calendar Girls produced by David Pugh.[5]
References
- ↑ "Scarborough's Futurist Theatre closes as saviour is sought". Yorkshire Post. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
- ↑ "Robert Luff - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. 23 February 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
- ↑ Duncan, Ian (24 February 2009). "Tributes flood in for former theatre owner". Scarborough Evening News. Johnston Press Digital Publishing. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
- ↑ Ritchie, John (12 February 2009). "Futurist 'needs millions for its long-term future'". Scarborough Evening News. Johnston Press Digital Publishing. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
- ↑ "Calendar Girls wow the Futurist". Scarborough News. Johnston Press Digital Publishing. 20 September 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2016.