Electric Company Theatre

Production member Mike Branham helps hoist period marquee in place outside the Stanley Theatre, May 30 2010.

Late this spring, Electric Company returned to South Granville Street for one day to shoot the exterior scenes of the hybrid film / theatre project, Tear the Curtain!. Production designer David Roberts and the Arts Club set and props builders were challenged to restore the Stanley theatre facade to its original 1930 appearance.

In the play, Alex Braithwaite (Jonathon Young) is a jaded Vancouver theatre critic, worn down by the sameness of theatre culture in the city and uninspired by his work. But everything changes when he walks in to a venue to review The Swan by Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnar starring Mila Brook (Laura Mennell).

At one point in Tear the Curtain!, two characters are seen walking into a glamourous new theatre to see One Romantic Night, which was the film version of the play The Swan.

One Romantic Night featured Lillian Gish in her first talking picture, which opened the Stanley as a cinema on December 15, 1930.