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© Keith Williams Architects
© Keith Williams Architects
Stage fright
Building an iconic modern theatre in the heart of medieval Canterbury posed some tough construction challenges including unexpected archaeology and restrictive planning laws. Stephen Cousins visits the New Marlowe theatre
along one of Canterbury’s many medieval streets, swept along by a throng of French and Japanese tourists who chatter away indecipherably and snap their cameras at the ancient buildings that surround us. Despite its small size, this city is one of Britain’s top tourist
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attractions and an ancient Christian pilgrimage site, whose architectural heritage includes Canterbury Cathedral, one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. I’m here to visit the site of the New Marlowe Theatre,
a £25.5M contemporary theatre that’s being built to the west of the city centre, just a stone’s throw from the Cathedral. Designed to replace an existing theatre, the new building will make a bold impact on the cityscape, it’s modern exterior featuring a collonade of vast eight metre-high columns and a roof pinnacle clad in industrial mesh that thrusts dramatically skyward.
’m walking down a narrow cobbled street in rural Kent, but if I shut my eyes I could be walking on Oxford Street in London. That’s my first thought as I make may way
The historic context has posed several challenges for the
construction team. Planning concerns meant assessing the theatre’s impact on views of the Cathedral and carefully sourc- ing materials; a watching archaeological brief became serious when a Roman town house was uncovered and necessitated changes to the design. Meanwhile, getting deliveries to site has proved a logistical nightmare in the city’s narrow streets. Controversial is one way to describe the project, says Colin
Overall, project manager at main contractor ISG Jackson: ‘There was a huge debate in Canterbury about whether this building should go ahead, some said its palette of materials was unsuitable, others thought its relative height was an affront to the Cathedral. But a great deal of money was being invested, and while the old theatre was merely playing a role, the New Marlowe will deliver a lead performance for future generations to enjoy.’ The Marlowe started life in the 1930s as an Odeon cinema
and later, in the 1980s, it was remodelled to include a fly tower at the foot of the auditorium and extra seating to enable the
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