Overview
Want to run your own cinema? Well, here’s your chance. 346 George Street, the address most recently known as Tribal Theatre, is up for rent.
You might have your work cut out for you though, with the state of the venue pretty ambiguous. When it was last operational, it was the type of place you might say 'has character' if you were being nice. Think decades-old chairs, furniture hardly made for comfort, stained carpet and a rather specific smell.
It has been more than a year since Tribal Theatre hosted events of any kind, and longer still since it boasted anything resembling normal film sessions. Their website is no longer up and running, and their Facebook page has become an echo chamber of uncertainty about the venue’s outcome.
The saga of the site is longer than a horror movie marathon, and comes with more meandering diversions than The Room — and yes, upon hearing it, you’ll want to start throwing spoons at something. Weekly screenings of cult films, alternative programming and retrospectives started winding down towards the end 2011 amid widespread reports of the cinema’s closure.
Thankfully, new operators swooped in and saved the day — well, kind of. Tribal's doors remained open, but its focus turned to hired events over film. After a parade of gigs, hypnosis shows, stand-up, burlesque, and even live grindhouse wrestling — yes really — it has sat empty and unused since late 2013.
In its most recent versions, Tribal Theatre was always unconventional — and not just because of the ghosts alleged to haunt the place. The name stems from the travel agency that was based in its foyer from 2010 to 2013, spruiking tours to backpackers. Again, we’re not joking — and it was something that needed to be seen to be believed. A coffee cart and a bank of computers also took over parts of the entryway, similarly aimed at travellers.
Indeed, despite its beloved program of weird and wonderful movie delights and its use as a base for the now-defunct Brisbane International Film Festival from 2010 to 2012, film increasingly felt like an afterthought. Plans to renovate, add a bar, and revamp the site into a live music venue were rumoured, but didn’t eventuate.
It’s a sad state of affairs for a cinema that had been running in one form or another since 1910. The site started as the Lyceum Theatre, before becoming the George from the 1960s. Dendy took over in 1994, adding a second screen and running the place as Brisbane's premier arthouse cinema until 2008.
This isn't the first time the building has faced an unknown fate, but just what comes next is anyone’s guess. For now, it remains home to ghosts, stories and memories, unless someone new comes to its rescue. Perhaps you? Just think of what you could do with the place.