Potential to build something great

ACROSS what is apparently "the fourth largest stage in Scotland", past the stagehands who are replacing the heavy old banks of seating after the weekend's gig, and up to the top of a balcony which affords perfect line of sight back down towards the performance area: I've just been given the guided tour of Paul Gudgin's pet project, Dunfermline's Alhambra Theatre.

Expectantly, he steps back and invites my opinion, rapping his knuckles gleefully on the banister when it comes. "Potential!" he exclaims. "Yes, I'm glad you said that. That's exactly what I thought when I saw it."

Gudgin was the director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for eight years and lived in Dunfermline throughout his tenure. "I remember when I was at the Fringe," he says, "and I used to walk past this building on my way to catch the Edinburgh train every day. Then one day someone asked me if I'd actually seen inside it. Eventually, I strolled up on the pretext I was looking for my granny or something, and sneaked in. Once I got past the fag smoke and chip pan smell, I thought, 'my god, this is a fantastic building'."

You can forgive the fact that Gudgin had to wait for a tip-off, though. The exterior of the Alhambra, a couple of minutes' walk south of Dunfermline town centre, is nondescript. The main hall is encased in a red brick shell which lends it the appearance of a Victorian industrial mill, while the marquee-covered doorway does little to draw attention to itself. The Alhambra's most recent use was as a bingo hall – hence the granny excuse – and from the outside, it looks like little more than that at the moment.

Yet Gudgin is right about potential. The building is spacious and gorgeous, and the fact it's a bit tatty round the edges can be forgiven after decades of inertia. The fixtures are old, the stage ceiling uses a rope and pulley system, and the dressing rooms comprise a single-storey annex which hinders access to the scene dock area. Proper investment, says Gudgin, would see this demolished in favour of a three-level artists' space and access area.

The hall itself, though, needs minimal work. With its grand balcony and elegant cornices, a bit of superficial decorating might see comparisons with similar but larger spaces such as Glasgow's Carling Academy or even Edinburgh's Usher Hall.

"The Alhambra was built in 1922," says Gudgin, now settled in his temporary office next door to the theatre. "It's not the greatest of omens, but it was in financial trouble before it even opened – to get it completed, they actually had to give the builders shares in the building. So the place is magnificent inside and quite drab outside, and one of the theories is that the developers used the last of their money to at least make sure the interior looked good.

"That date's interesting, too. The place was originally envisaged as a variety theatre, but of course the early 1920s were a big time for movies. So fairly soon the building became a cinema, and it remained one of the best in town until the 1960s."

The venue would also put on bands and other live shows, although such activity slowed towards the end of its life as a cinema. Eventually the public taste for movie theatres waned – there were five or six in Dunfermline at the time – and the Alhambra was sold into what Gudgin calls "the cult of bingo" in the 1960s. It remained a bingo hall until a couple of years ago, when the company that owned it sold the building and moved to a multiplex on the edge of town.

"I managed to get a proper look around when the place came on the market," says Gudgin, "and started to do a bit of pushing towards saving the building in the press. I also approached Fife Council, but they already subsidise four theatres in Fife, so I ended up speaking to a local property developer who was taking an interest at the same time and shares the same ambitions for the Alhambra as I do."

This developer, Bill Fletcher, eventually bought the building, and now works in partnership with Gudgin. Since the venue was obtained last year, the pair have set about founding a charitable trust to run the Alhambra, and are looking to employ a full-time venue manager.

They've also started to book smaller performances, including local heroes Nazareth, although they hope to be able to branch out into musical theatre when the necessary structural improvements have been made, offering another Scottish alternative to a wide variety of bookers and promoters. In the meantime, however, KT Tunstall will play a special pre-T in the Park show next week, which will raise the profile of the Alhambra around Scotland.

"I love old theatres," says Tunstall, "with all their spooky vibe and history. I also love the fact that I'm going back to Fife – I hardly ever get to visit these days." Although Dunfermline and Tunstall's native St Andrews are like chalk and cheese, the show of local support will doubtless be appreciated.

"At our open day," says Gudgin, "one of the comments which came back loud and clear was that it's just so good to see something happening in Dunfermline again. It's a rapidly-growing town, we have a pretty big catchment area,

so one of the things I really want to see is the transforming effect a place like this can have on the area. Nazareth played last weekend, and people round Dunfermline said they noticed a difference – hotels were booked up that night, the pubs were busy.

"Over time, one or two of the premises around here will turn into bars and restaurants, and the ones that already exist will get more footfall past their doors. You always take economic impact studies with a pinch of salt, but they say a theatre like this can generate anything between 4 million and 10 million for a local economy."

"Aye," says Bill Fletcher, who has been working away at his desk in the background while Gudgin and I have been speaking, "and that was just over the bar at Nazareth the other night". The hope is that such success will continue.

KT Tunstall plays the Alhambra, Dunfermline on 10 July. For full programme details, visit www.alhambradunfermline.com