Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Meet the first chairman of Marlowe Trust
Peter Pan panto breaks box-office records
The Marlowe Theatre finally smashed the 100,000-ticket barrier for its pantomime as the curtain came down on its recordbreaking run at the weekend.
That makes it the most successful panto in its history and comfortably the biggest in Kent.
As it patted itself on the back for a string of sell-out performances of Peter Pan, behind the scenes it continues tripping through the legal requirements in its shift from council ownership.
After getting full council approval earlier this month, the theatre will now be operated by a charitable trust.
It means it will no longer be funded by the taxpayer but instead look to unlock grants and other funding options, in addition to box office revenues, to help it grow.
And this week the high profile figure drafted in as chairman of the new Marlowe Theatre Trust vowed audiences can expect much more of the “brilliant same”.
Jonathan Church, 50, is well known in theatre circles both as a director and producer, but perhaps primarily for his ability to turn around failing regional venues.
The Marlowe, however, is far from failing. In fact it is proving something of a runaway success story since its £25 million rebuild turned it into the county’s most successful theatre and one of the strongest performing in the south east.
Speaking to the Gazette, he said: “This change is great news for local taxpayers as there is a significant financial saving for the local authority but also opportunities for the theatre trust to access more funding – certain tax opportunities and fundraising which a trust can do but a local authority could not.”
It has been calculated that the change of stewardship will save the council £238,000 in the first two years and a further £111,000 every year after that.
Mr Church said: “There is no regional theatre in the country offering better than here in terms of the number of people through the doors and the price they are paying. There’s a stability and loyalty with the audience. It would take a lot to disturb that.”
Mr Church made his name as an artistic director who turned around the fortunes of the likes of the Salisbury Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Chichester Festival Theatre. He also runs his own production company, based in London, responsible for a string of major hits.
Head-hunted for his new role, he will not be hands-on here and his visits are likely to be infrequent.
He admits since his appointment in November he has visited the Marlowe only a hand- ful of times – one of which being to take his children to a performance of the pantomime. As chairman of the trust he will oversee a board of hired experts who will provide the “checks and balances” of the theatre’s management. Key to that will be the appointment of a chief executive. Long-time theatre director Mark Everett retired last year after guiding the theatre for more than 20 years and Paula Gillespie has been interim director since. Hiring a permanent long-term replacement is seen as key to its success – a recruitment process which will run in tandem to the appointment of the trust’s board. It is hoped by the summer names will be known. Mr Church said: “The chief executive will lead the theatre going forward. The board will have a guiding role but the majority of work will be done by the incredible team here. “It’s not my role to define what the artistic programme will be. I think the current blueprint will continue in the short term. “But you want the new person to shape the business plan going forward. “It will be more of the brilliant same but undoubtedly one of the candidates will convince us of other things we should try which are exciting for the audience.”