The building is located in the city center, across the river from the famous archbishop's cathedral, a UNESCO monument and the main temple of the Anglican Church. It replaced the demolished old building, a former 1930s cinema, which residents believe disfigured the city's landscape. However, the height of its grate block made it the second tallest structure in Canterbury after the towers of the cathedral. The block of the new theater is 9 meters higher than the old one, so the "dialogue" and even some rivalry between it and the cathedral remains, which reinforces the historically tense relations between Christianity and theater as a field of art.
The new building is dedicated to the Theater Marlowe, named after the Canterbury-born great playwright of the Elizabethan era, Christopher Marlowe. The theater does not limit itself to any one type of art: drama performances, operas and ballets, performances on ice and musicals are held there - there are only about 50 thousand inhabitants in the city, so it is not advisable to follow a rigid program.
The main entrance is preceded by a gently sloping staircase with a "plaza", concealing the unevenness of the relief, and the facade is decorated with a high "portico" made of artificial stone. This solution creates a smooth transition between the modest scale of the old part of the city and the large theater building. It is composed of several volumes, the main of which are two auditoriums and a "tower" of grates; all of them are clad with different types of metal panels, for example, the tower - anodized aluminum, hidden under a layer of steel mesh.
The interior of the main hall, which seats 1,200, is paneled in black walnut and the armchairs are upholstered in red and orange leather. The volume of a small, universal hall for 150 seats is located above the main entrance and faces the cathedral.
N. F.
