Futurist Theatre
Encyclopedia
The Futurist Theatre is a theatre and cinema in Scarborough, North Yorkshire
, England. It is located on Foreshore Road, on the sea front of the South Bay.
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. Further 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 the producer of the stage version, Robert Luff
. The extension to the stage meant the closure of the adjacent Arcadia theatre which became a lounge.
During the 1980s the 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), for a theatre
in the country, and the fifth largest capacity outside London
.
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, England. It is located on Foreshore Road, on the sea front of the South Bay.
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. Further extensions to the stage allowed the popular The Black and White Minstrel Show
The Black and White Minstrel Show
The Black and White Minstrel Show was a British light entertainment show that ran on BBC television from 1958-1978 and was a popular stage show. It was a weekly light entertainment and variety show presenting traditional American minstrel and Country songs, as well as show and music hall numbers,...
to perform there many times when it was owned (between 1966 and 1974) by the producer of the stage version, Robert Luff
Robert Luff
Robert Charles William Luff, CBE was a theatrical agent and producer. He was most notable for producing the stage version of The Black and White Minstrel Show and being the former agent of Lenny Henry, the Tiller Girls and Beryl Reid...
. The extension to the stage meant the closure of the adjacent Arcadia theatre which became a lounge.
During the 1980s the 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
Digital Theater System
DTS is a series of multichannel audio technologies owned by DTS, Inc. , an American company specializing in digital surround sound formats used for both commercial/theatrical and consumer grade applications...
sound system and a new CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
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), for a theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in the country, and the fifth largest capacity outside London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.