Theatre Project
Click here for a map of the theatres that existed in Manchester from 1933 to 1948
I originally started doing my reserahc on theatre exhibition in Manchester with focus on the ‘golden-age’, 1933-1948. What I found was that Manchester was home to a variety of different Theatres who catered to a variety of different theatre-goers. I’d already heard of some of Manchester more famous movie houses, namely the Palace and the State, and it seemed logically to place the most focus on them. The only other theatre I knew anything about was the Empire. In the early 90’s I lived on Milton STreet, just up the hill from Massabesic Street. I was far too young to have gone to see a picture at the Empire, but I recall my brother and sister going there occasionaly. They both told me that during the early 90’s they would generally play ‘cult’ movies like Rocky Horror Picture Show, and that they would also have conerts there. It struck em as interesting that while theatres like the State had been torn down, and the Palace stopped showing movies altogether, that a theatre like the Empire could continue showing pictures into the 90’s.
While I did superficial research on all the theatres in Manchester from 33 to 48, I explicitly set my focus on three theatres that shared one common thread. The Globe, Empire and Rex theatres were all second run theatres, that were at one point or another managed by a man named Lucien Descoteaux. While the theatres he ran weren’t the most prolific, he himself seemed to be a sort of king of the lower end
I created a map of all the theatres that existed during this time period. You can access it by clicking here. If you click on a theatres picture on the map, it will take you to a page with more information about it. Those same pages are accessible on the right hand side of this page as well.
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