Tyne Theatre receives £2,000 boost from Boris Karloff Charitable Foundation

Work to renovate a Victorian theatre has been boosted by the legacy of the actor famous for playing Frankenstein’s monster.

The Tyne Theatre is undergoing £242,000 restoration work including restoring its wooden stage machinery.

The Newcastle venue applied to the Boris Karloff Charitable Foundation for a grant and received £2,000 towards new stage flooring.

It became a cinema in 1917 and showed Karloff’s films in the 1930s.

The venue, in Westgate Road, originally opened in September 1847.

The original 1867 stage machinery was discovered concealed behind the cinema screen in 1974.

Best known for playing Frankenstein’s monster in three 1930s films, Karloff died in 1969, aged 81.

The foundation set up in his name gives grants to charitable organisations, including those that support the performing arts.

A £242,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund is also being used to create a database about performances that took place at the theatre dating back to the 19th Century.

Project administrator at the venue Rachel Snape said staff were delighted to get the boost in funding from the foundation.

The theatre, a Grade I-listed building, is is one of only two known examples in Britain to retain a complete set of Victorian stage machinery.

When it became a cinema it was the first in Newcastle to show a “talkie”.

A statement on behalf of the actor’s foundation said: “The trustees of the Boris Karloff Charitable Foundation were intrigued to see a poster relating to Boris Karloff acting as Frankenstein when the Tyne Theatre was used as a cinema.

“We were pleased to be able to offer some financial assistance in the refurbishment of this iconic building.”

In 2008 the theatre was bought by Newcastle City Council, which transferred the freehold ownership to the Tyne Theatre and Opera House Preservation Trust.