Marlowe Theatre

The Marlowe Theatre is a major 1,200-seat theatre in Canterbury, England.

It closed in March 2009 for redevelopment and a brand-new Marlowe Theatre reopened on 4 October 2011.

Name

The theatre was named after the playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was born and attended school in the city. In front of the present theatre is a 19th-century statue of a Muse (Marlowe is known as the Muses' darling) surrounded by small effigies of characters from Marlowe's plays.

History

First building

The Marlowe Theatre previously occupied another site on St Margaret's Street, Canterbury which was demolished in 1982.

Second building

The second building in The Friars was built in 1933 as the Friars Cinema, where on 11 May 1944 the film A Canterbury Tale received its world premiere. It reopened as the second Marlowe Theatre in July 1984.

25 years later the converted cinema building had reached the end of its useful life, and the Marlowe closed for redevelopment on 22 March 2009.

Redevelopment and the Third Building

Richard Whittington

Richard Whittington (c. 1354–1423) was a medieval merchant and a politician. He is also the real-life inspiration for the English folk tale Dick Whittington and His Cat. He was four times Lord Mayor of London, a member of parliament and a sheriff of London. In his lifetime he financed a number of public projects, such as drainage systems in poor areas of medieval London, and a hospital ward for unmarried mothers. He bequeathed his fortune to form the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington which, nearly 600 years later, continues to assist people in need. Despite knowing three of the five kings who reigned during his lifetime, there is no evidence that he was knighted.

Biography

He was born in Gloucestershire, England, at Pauntley in the Forest of Dean, although his family originated from Kinver in Staffordshire, England, where his grandfather Sir William de Whittington was a knight at arms. His date of birth is variously given as in the 1350s and he died in London in 1423. However, he was a younger son and so would not inherit his father's estate as the eldest son might expect to do. Consequently he was sent to the City of London to learn the trade of mercer. He became a successful trader, dealing in valuable imports such as silks and velvets, both luxury fabrics, much of which he sold to the Royal and noble court from about 1388. There is indirect evidence that he was also a major exporter to Europe of much sought after English woollen cloth such as Broadcloth. From 1392 to 1394 he sold goods to Richard II worth £3,500 (equivalent to more than £1.5m today). He also began money-lending in 1388, preferring this to outward shows of wealth such as buying property. By 1397 he was also lending large sums of money to the King.

Stephen Mulhern

Stephen Daniel Mulhern (born 4 April 1977) is an English presenter, entertainer, and former magician, best known for presenting television programmes for ITV.

Mulhern has presented the ITV2 spin-off series Britain's Got More Talent since 2007 and has more recently presented ITV game shows Catchphrase (2013–present), Big Star's Little Star (2013–present) and Pick Me! (2015–present). He also co-hosts the Sunday breakfast programme on Heart Radio, alongside Emma Willis.

Early life

Mulhern is the third of four children of Irish parents, Maureen (née Reid) and Christopher Mulhern, who were both market traders. He has two older brothers and a younger sister. Mulhern attended St Bonaventure's Catholic Comprehensive School in Forest Gate, Newham.

Career

Magic

Mulhern gained his interested in comedy and magic from his father, who would teach him a trick before bedtime when he was 13 years old. The family would spend their summer holidays at Butlin's Minehead in Somerset, where Mulhern first began performing in public. He became the youngest member of The Magic Circle, which brought about an appearance on Blue Peter in a piece for Harry Houdini's 100th birthday. Mulhern was later suspended from The Magic Circle for revealing a magic trick on Finger Tips, a kid's TV show.

Marlowe

Marlowe may refer to:

Places

Performing arts

See also

Theatre

Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art and stagecraft are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe").

Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from ancient Greek drama, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre artist Patrice Pavis defines theatricality, theatrical language, stage writing, and the specificity of theatre as synonymous expressions that differentiate theatre from the other performing arts, literature, and the arts in general.