Sea change for Scarborough as theatre starts new stage in life

It's hard not to think of Kevin Costner and the movie Field of Dreams when listening to Stuart Tucker.

Like Costner's character, Ray Kinsella, who builds a baseball field with little other than a reservoir of faith and a belief it is what the people want, Tucker has spent the last three years bringing the Scarborough Open Air Theatre back to life. The hard work has been done. Now he has to hope the North Bay venue finds its audience.

"I walked through the theatre three years ago with Paul Gregg and I fell in love with the it," he says. "It's unique. There's nothing like this in the UK and I would question if there's anything to rival it in Europe. As soon as I saw it, I thought we could bring it back to life,"

Paul Gregg is founder and chairman of Apollo, the entertainment company which will run the 6,500 seater theatre which opens tomorrow with a spectacular gala evening event and was the man who programmed the last concert to be held there – James Last and his Orchestra in 1986.

"Paul already had a very special connection to the venue and I was instantly captured by it," says Tucker, who is the first to admit falling in love with the historic theatre and being able to make it work as a viable entertainment space are two entirely different propositions.

The theatre was originally built by Scarborough Corporation in the 1930s and when it was opened by then Lord Mayor of London, audiences flocked to the first production, Merrie England.

The theatre itself was built on the site of Hodgson's Slack, taking advantage of ground contours which created a natural amphitheatre. The stage was (and still is) set on an island in the middle of a lake with fixed seating for the audience opposite.

It was set out in five blocks with 5,876 seats, and the balance was made up with deck chairs. Folding seats for 6,500 have now been added to the new theatre's hard surfaced terracing.

Back in the 1930s, when English seaside resorts were at their peak, the amphitheatre drew thousands each night, with theatrical productions and lavish musicals on a scale that few of today's producers can ever hope for.

By 1952, it had attracted 1.5 million people, and the casts of

performers could range up to 200.

With Apollo in charge, the venue is limited by the council to 12 major events each year, but Tucker says the quality of acts he hopes to attract to Scarborough will soon make it a cultural magnet for visitors.

Tomorrow night's opening event will see a grand concert with Jos Carreras and Dame Kiri te Kanawa performing together for the first time in the UK and Brian Blessed as host.

Tucker says: "We are going to have a mixture of events, but the line-up for the opening night gives some idea of the quality we are aiming for.

"To have two genuinely world class performers here as well will make it a very special evening."

Through the 1960s, the fortunes of the magnificent theatre continued to ascend with musicals and the much-loved It's a Knockout held regularly at the venue.

However, towards the end of that decade, the future of the theatre was in doubt and in 1968 West Side Story was the venue's last musical, apart from a YMCA production in 1982. In 1977, the dressing rooms and stage set were demolished and the seating removed.

Tucker says the advent of foreign holidays was one of the reasons the theatre began to attract smaller audiences and the writing was on the wall for the council-run venue.

He believes the time is right because of a sea change, and not only because more of us are staying put during the summer.

"There is nothing else like this in this region," says Tucker. "If people want to see the major acts, they have to travel a long way to big venues. Re-opening the theatre is important in that it is saving an important piece of history, but more than that, it's going to be a fantastic venue where people can enjoy amazing performances in a place that doesn't exist anywhere else in Europe."

He's pretty confident that now they've built it, they will come.

n For a full programme of events, visit www.scarborough

openairtheatre.com