The King’s Theatre should be rescued if Dundee City Council is serious about its UK City of Culture bid, according to the campaign group trying to revive the venue.
The Frank Thomson-designed building at the corner of Cowgate and St Andrews Street could be the arena for the kind of large events the council says are necessary for the city’s efforts to be crowned the cultural capital in 2017.
The former vaudeville theatre once hosted the biggest names in entertainment, including Sir Harry Lauder, Will Fyffe, Margaret Lockwood and Cliff Richard and the Shadows.
Now privately owned and converted into the Deja Vu and Club 30 nightclubs, it is in a state of disrepair and is on Historic Scotland’s at-risk register
Architect Frank Thomson returned from London to Scotland and incorporated some of the capital’s theatre architecture in the King’s, which was hailed as a marvel of design innovations.
Its stunning features include two balconies which had no visible means of support and which were unveiled in 1909 to a wary public.
The end of the music hall era saw its conversion to a cinema, bingo hall and latterly, a nightclub,and much of its fine internal architecture remains intact.
Genek Romanowski, treasurer of the King’s Theatre Trust, said: “There are trees growing from the roof and slime running down the walls where the rones have obviously failed.”
The council has powers to force the owners to take better care of the theatre and the adjoining Continental Ballroom and he believes they should be put on the list of buildings overseen by the Derelict Property Working Group.
“There is a huge opportunity here to showcase Frank Thomson as a noteworthy architect in the manner of what Charles Rennie MacIntosh did for Glasgow,” Mr Romanowski added.
“The council already admits it needs a venue for larger events.
“The King’s could hold 1,000-plus people, making it available for popular touring shows bringing people in to Dundee rather than forcing them to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and even London to see them.
“The Continental Ballroom could provide a place for a shop, bar and restaurant for the modern theatre experience. The King’s Theatre has the potential to be one of our most celebrated buildings and the ‘missing’ venue for larger events.
“If Dundee is serious about being a city of culture, the embarrassing state of this gem of a building should not be allowed to continue.”
A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: “The larger venue that VisitScotland and Dundee City Council had in mind when this observation was made at a joint strategic workshop was in the region of 3,500 to 4,000 seats.
“At present, work is going on in the council to identify where and how it can improve the city’s tourism offering. In due course, that work will also involve a number of external partners.”