The Marlowe Kit, Canterbury's Newest Arts Venue, Opens

The Marlowe Kit, Canterbury's newest arts venue, is now open.

The Stour Street building, formerly Canterbury Heritage Museum, is the new home of The Marlowe's creative classes. From April 2018, it will also be open to the public and host a mix of theatre, exhibitions, music, poetry, conversations and storytelling, all exploring and celebrating the city's rich literary heritage.

The first people to use The Marlowe Kit this week were youth theatre participants and they clearly enjoyed it. Apprentice Company member Caitlin (14) said: "The building is bigger with lots of different rooms so there are more things we can do. We can have better sets for our productions, with lots of possibilities and potential."

Freya (17) is a new member of the Senior Company, and volunteered on The Youth Theatre's summer production, Creed Of Spies. She said: "It's a creative space with other young people who are enthusiastic and brilliant at what they do. The environment is inspiring, it's a really cool building.

"It's in the centre of Canterbury and part of the city's history - combining theatre and Canterbury in a happy marriage. The Marlowe Kit is a space of public significance, it's historic and nice to work in."

Tara (17), a returning member of the Senior Company, said: "I like the new space, there are lots of different rooms which will be beneficial when working on big projects. It is cool that it used to be a museum and all of the history relates to Marlowe. We have some great projects coming up, it's very exciting."

The Marlowe Kit's name reflects the theatre's namesake, Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit. The project has been jointly developed by Canterbury City Council's teams in the Museums and Galleries Service and at The Marlowe, supported by funding from the National Great Places scheme.

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