OK, here's the deal with the Embassy. There are two auditoria in the space where the orchestra pit and Fringe office used to be. They were built by the trust to try and ensure the theatre had an economic future and more screens for the same overhead should have done that. They were expecting them to be about 100 seats each.
But, the designs were poorly thought out and it turns out that the sightlines were so inadequate that you couldn't project an image over the heads of an audience. And no way rear projection either. So, they sit empty.
In a rent renegotiation last year Sky City stopped paying for them and they reverted back to the City Council who offered them to Downstage as potential office or rehearsal space but that was never going to fly.
My big concern over the Embassy now is what will happen if and when Readings buy the Sky City Cinemas chain. For a few years at least it has been a case of the devil you know...
OK, here's the deal with the Embassy. There are two auditoria in the space where the orchestra pit and Fringe office used to be. They were built by the trust to try and ensure the theatre had an economic future and more screens for the same overhead should have done that. They were expecting them to be about 100 seats each.
But, the designs were poorly thought out and it turns out that the sightlines were so inadequate that you couldn't project an image over the heads of an audience. And no way rear projection either. So, they sit empty.
In a rent renegotiation last year Sky City stopped paying for them and they reverted back to the City Council who offered them to Downstage as potential office or rehearsal space but that was never going to fly.
My big concern over the Embassy now is what will happen if and when Readings buy the Sky City Cinemas chain. For a few years at least it has been a case of the devil you know...