NEW PICTURE THEATRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3832, 23 August 1927, Page 72

NEW PICTURE THEATRE.

REGISTRATION OF COMPANY. CAPITAL OF £60,000. The Regent Theatre Company. Ltd., which has been formed to build a new picture and vaudeville theatre on the site of Ross's Buildings in the Octagon, was registered in Dunedin yesterday. Plans for a building of almost palatial design have been prepared, and thc process of erection will be started almost immediately.

The directors of the company are Messrs John 11. Tait, F. W. Thriug, and Beaumont Smith, representing J. C. Williamson Films, and John M’Donald and F. G. Duncan, of Dunedin. The capital of thc company is £60,000. Of the 40.000 shares which have been issued J. C. Williamson Films (N.Z.). Ltd., have taken up 20,000, and approximately 20,000 have been subscribed by Dunedin residents. Thc preparation of the plans has been in the hands of Messrs Miller and White, who have been assisted by Mr Cedric Ballantyne, of Melbourne, and Mr Llewellyn Williams, of Wellington. The theatre, which will have a seating capacity of approximately 2000, will be of fan shape, tapering from the back of the stalls towards the stage. Special attention will be paid to lighting, and the heating system will be of the latest design. It will be modelled on the lines of the Regent Theatre in Auckland. The dress circle will be furnished with comfortable lounge chairs. The vaudeville acts which are given in the Auckland and Wellington J. C. Williamson theatres will also be available in Dunedin. Mr Thring is at present in Europe searching for novelties and furnishings for the Australian and New Zealand circuit, which embraces 95 theatres. Recently Messrs Smith, Tait, and Thring visited Dunedin and entered int-> negotiations with Messrs M’Donald and Duncan. They decided that instead of building the theatre independently, they would work in conjunction with local interests.