Scene changes for the city’s theatre

The sad sight of the original Marlowe Theatre, being demolished in June 1982, is the subject of our first picture. It was in St Margaret’s Street, but this photo was taken from the then car park in Rose Lane. Both car park and theatre were giving way to a shopping development we now know as the Marlowe Arcade. The first Marlowe was converted from a cinema in 1951 and the brick stage block, or fly tower, seen in the first picture, was part of that conversion process.

The building started life as the Central Picture Theatre in 1927, with its distinctive mock-tudor frontage.

The Marlowe, mark one, saw an impressive litany of acts over the years, most notably, Pink Floyd in 1969. The second Marlowe Theatre was also a converted cinema. This was the Friars and later the Odeon Cinema, in The Friars, off St Peter’s Street.

The old cinema was altered to become the Marlowe Theatre, mark two, with the addition of a massive fly tower at the back. This is used, in part, for the raising and lowering of scenery. The impressive 1930s art deco facade of the original cinema was retained during conversion and this can be seen in the second picture. Also visible is the Victorian Marlowe Memorial, which started life in the Buttermarket and then spent some decades in the Dane John before being moved to its present position.

In the 2000s, it was decided that the Marlowe, mark two, was no longer fit for purpose. But should it be redeveloped where it was, or be built on a close out-of-town site, which would allow greater access to both tours and customers?

In the end, the existing site was chosen. In 2009, the old art deco frontage, so lovingly retained in 1982 and utterly unique in Canterbury, was torn down for the Marlowe, mark three. Only the fly tower was retained from the mark two scheme. It was opened in October 2011.

The Marlowe, mark one, coming down in June 1982

The Marlowe Theatre, mark two, as it was in 1997