Charcoalblue Approaches Completion on Marlowe Theatre

The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, UK, following a £25.6m ($37m) development project, will open on October 4. The theatre consulting firm Charcoalblue was appointed by Canterbury City Council, the theatre's owner, and was responsible for the design, planning, and technical specification of the auditorium and backstage areas for both the main auditorium and the multi-configurable Marlowe Studio.

Working alongside architect Keith Williams, of award-winning architects Keith Williams Architects, was Paul Crosbie, project manager for Charcoalblue. "The Marlowe Theatre has always been an extremely popular venue, but it had become tired and was quite simply not big enough," he said. "Part of Charcoalblue's remit was to increase seating capacity to 1,200, to enable the Marlowe to host the biggest and the best in touring productions and shows.

"The completely new three-tiered auditorium now features greatly enhanced sightlines from the Italian-made leather seats, and there is a more intimate relationship between the audience and the action. In fact inside the new auditorium, no seat is more than 25m [82'] away from the stage. With considerably improved acoustics and an expanded orchestra pit that can now accommodate up to 80 musicians, the Marlowe is perfectly placed to support a huge range of performances from full-scale opera to stand-up comedy. "

Mark Everett, the theatre's director, said: "It gets better all the time, and, obviously as the theatre nears completion, we're all getting a great idea of the size and space. The sense of grandeur in this wonderful new auditorium is coupled with a feeling of intimacy. Everything's so much closer to the stage than the old theatre could ever be. It's a great sense of shared experience, and that's what live theatre is all about."

In addition, the Marlowe Theatre is now home to a second venue -- The Marlowe Studio. Created to benefit the local community it will host creative workshops, concerts and events alongside a range of other performance genres.

Andy Hayles, Charcoalblue's managing director, explains: "The Marlowe Studio will provide a place for Kent's many creative artists and performers to devise and premiere new work. Full of character, the studio is an extremely flexible space. Able to accommodate almost any form of small-scale performance or event, The Marlowe Studio can seat 150 people on a retractable seating system or, the auditorium can be easily re-configured into a flat floor space, capable of accommodating up to 300 people - ideal for workshops and music gigs."