The Little Theatre, Bath

Saturday 11th March 2017

Our Next investigation took us to a similar building to our last investigation at The Plaza. This time however, the cinema was originally a theatre. Today, the building is used not only to screen films; it holds weddings and also other functions.

History

The Little Theatre Cinema in Bath is the UK's oldest surviving independent cinema

The little started life as a community theatre for the underprivileged of Bath, expanding in to its cinema role in the 1930s.

The exiled Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie – seeking sanctuary in the UK at that time – visited the cinema to watch newsreels of the Italian occupation of his country..

The origins of The Little Theatre go back to the early years of the 20th century and to an organisation known as Citizen House.

Citizen House was a community centre, home to a wide range of voluntary societies concerned with welfare, education and the arts.

"It had been established in 1913 by Helen Hope – a pioneer in social welfare, Bath's first woman councillor and a JP, and Consuelo de Reyes, Helen Hope's colleague and successor, set up a community theatre group known as The Citizen House Players."

Her aim was to make theatre accessible to people with little opportunity for cultural pursuits and to involve them in all aspects of stage production.

With this in mind, she established regular drama courses, set up a costume and play library and within the confines of Citizen House created a 200-seat auditorium . . . the first Little Theatre.

By the early 1930s Consuelo de Reyes had bought the Everyman Theatre in Hampstead as a London base for her work and with her stage designer husband, Peter King, had commissioned an architect to design a building that would function both as a theatre and news cinema – the 'new' Little Theatre.

The new cinema opened in January 1936 with a continuous hourly programme that changed twice weekly and, true to her educational roots, her mother's first programme contained a newsreel, a documentary on the Royal Academy, and a film on the life history of the frog.

And then, just four weeks later in February 1936, Citizen House was burnt to the ground and with it all those community resources, and indeed the family home.

But The Little Theatre survived and it was around this time that Haile Selassie, the exiled Emperor of Ethiopia, came to the cinema to watch newsreels of the invasion of his country by Italian forces.

Screen 2, first vigil.

As there was still a film showing in screen 1 we started out first vigil in screen 2. The team for the night included Maria, Andrew, Matt, Dan, Tracy, Dave and I (Jacs). We noted on the way up to screen 2; there was a definite atmosphere, especially on the stairs. Once we were in, settled (and had our tour of the place), we began our investigation.

I called out to see if I could generate a response. Nothing obvious seemed to be happening and Maria started to read out an old article on Google she had found where another paranormal team had visited the theatre a few years ago. In it, they talk about screen 2 being the most active area, especially near the fire exit. I notice that we are all instinctual concentrating in that area and point that out to the team. While we are discussing this, Matt notices that the temperature in the room has definitely dropped. This is something we can all agree about. Approximately 10 minutes into the vigil, we hear a knock which we are still trying to decide if it was just a knock or if something had been dropped on the floor. Dave and Andrew go to look in the direction of the mysterious sound and find a marble. This is a very odd object to find on the floor of a cinema. We cannot count that as evidence however as we have no idea if it had been placed there before we arrived either deliberately or by accident. I continue to call out. Maria and I hear a tapping noise near to where we are sat and Matt exclaims that the row of chairs he is sat on vibrated. Dave takes the temperature reading and it has fallen from 22C to 21C.

We feel that it would be a good time to change location. Screen 1 is now empty so after a break we head down stairs.

Screen 1

Now, earlier, I had ventured into screen 1 by myself while everyone was having a break. I have to admit I did feel a little spooked in there on my own at first. However; that feeling soon passed. Most of us position ourselves around the seating area. Screen 1 is a lot larger than screen 2. Matt has gone up to the balcony by himself. Maria exclaims that she has a tingly feeling in her hands. She feels this if the energy is building up in the immediate area. Maria tries calling out this time. I do notice a few light anomalies on the video camera, however, they are so faint, they will not replicate clearly enough for a video clip. I do notice however; that there is a knock in response to Maria which none of us seem to hear at the time. We carry on calling out to see if we can get a response. We do hear a few things such as knocks and voice patterns. Unfortunately though, The Little Theatre is smack bang in the middle of the student quarter in Bath and we cannot be sure it’s not the sound carrying from all the party goers out and about on a Saturday night.

Dan decides he would like to go back up to screen 2 for a lone vigil. Maria tells him that when she went back up to screen 2 during our break to get a jacket, she became very spooked. She said she felt like somebody was standing behind her. With this, Dan heads back upstairs and we continue with our vigil.

During the next 15 minutes, we do hear what sound like footsteps and I think I can see movement in the projection room.

Screen 2

I set up a locked off camera and decide to go and take some pictures. After I have done this, I decide to do a lone vigil on the balcony. Again, I did feel a little spooked being by myself in screen 1, however; this feeling soon passes like before. Dave comes to join me after 10 minutes and we sit for a while just listening. I mention that while we were all in screen 1, I thought I saw movement in the projection room. We both decide to go and check the room out. Nothing seems untoward in there so we go back and join the others.

It is here that we find out that while Maria and Tracy where sat in the projection room for screen 2, the door closed on them. It was not a slam or a swing. It was more controlled as if it was shut. Everyone was accounted for at the time. We try to replicate the door closing; however, we cannot get the door to shut again on its own. There was also tapping noises heard in screen 2 while this was happening.

Matt also mentions that while he was taking pictures in screen 1, he thought he saw a figure leaning over the balcony where Dave and I were sat earlier. He also mentions that he say movement by the fire exit in screen 2.

As it was getting late, we decide to call it a night.

When we were all packing up, we heard something drop to the floor. On the floor is where we heard the noise is what I think is a 2 pence. On closer inspection, it’s an old halfpenny, not a modern coin. What a way to end an investigation!

I would like to thank Andrew for arranging this amazing location and all the staff that stayed behind to allow us to do our investigation.