Marlowe Theatre
Canterbury, UK
The original Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury was housed in a 1930s Odeon Cinema. The large-scale rebuilding opened in 2011 and had completely renewed the theatre, providing two new performance spaces, vastly improved public areas and updated stage facilities as well as a new educational programme for young people to attract a much wider range of performing companies than could previously be accommodated.
The building now houses a number one touring theatre seating 1,200, organised over three levels with an expandable orchestra pit for fully staged opera. The new 150-seat Marlowe-Lab is home to the Marlowe Youth Theatre programme and offers a flexible-format second space which complements the buildings touring and producing programming. New, accessible foyers animate the streetscape which include a new ticket office, bars and riverside café. Externally the building is unrecognisable to its 1930’s old self. The entirely new exterior opens to an enlarged forecourt with a sheltering colonnade and a remodelled fly-tower providing a landmark beacon for the new theatre.
Charcoalblue worked together with the client and the architect to develop and refine the building organisation including the public experience through the foyers and back-of-house areas, all planned on a tight floodplain site bounded by listed buildings.
The performance spaces were both created through close collaboration with the architect and client team and Charcoalblue led the design of the technical facilities including scenic flying, stagelighting and audiovisual systems.
Project Details
Client
Canterbury City Council
Architect
Keith Williams Architect
Cost
£25.5m
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