Marlowe Theatre

The Marlowe Theatre on The Friars was the second theatre in Canterbury to have that name. The first, on St Margaret's Street, closed in 1981 and the Council purchased the Odeon Cinema on The Friars. Built in 1933 for Oscar Deutsch's Odeon chain, The Friars closed as a cinema in 1981. During the next two years it underwent major reconstruction until opening as the city's new Marlowe Theatre in July 1984.

Conversion to theatre involved re-stepping the stalls into a steep rake, rising to meet the former cinema balcony; dressing rooms created below the stage; and the installation of an orchestra pit.

The Odeon façade - not typical of the house style, with six tall narrow windows above the entrance canopy, and three balustrade panels above - remained little altered over time, only the colour scheme and signage changing. Inside, the foyer too remained almost untouched, although new space was created along the sides of the auditorium.

In the auditorium, the new raked seating providing a capacity of 993, although new chandeliers could be lowered to form a 'light curtain', temporarily reducing the capacity to 600. The roof opened to the auditorium, and the stage house was totally rebuilt with a proscenium opening of 13m (42ft 8in), a stage depth of 11.5m, the orchestra pit for 48 musicians. Externally the stage house created a significant block amongst the surrounding buildings and wider cityscape.

A popular and well-used venue, the conversion from cinema left no room for future expansion, and by 2004 the Council was considering options for a replacement in the city. Ultimately a replacement venue on the same site - expanded to include adjacent brownfield land - was decided upon. The theatre closed in March 2009, and the converted cinema building demolished, save for the steel structure of the fly tower. Its replacement - Canterbury's third Marlowe Theatre (q.v.) - opened in October 2011.