The Marlowe’s year-round programme ranges across the performing arts – and features partnerships with some of the UK’s leading companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), the Philharmonia Orchestra, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and the National Theatre. We present West End musicals, touring plays and more in our 1,200-capacity Main House. And since 2025, we’ve created our own shows through Marlowe Theatre Productions, our dynamic producing division, including large scale touring across the UK., touring productions across the UK.

We’re the home of new writing in Kent, with our pioneering Writers’ Room helping new and emerging writers to develop their skills in a creative and supportive environment. Our dedication to new writing runs from workshops and courses to fully staged productions both in the Main House and in our 150-seat Studio, which also hosts everything from intimate family shows to the best new stand-ups in the country.

We’re fast becoming a centre of excellence for vocational training, providing creative career pathways for young people across and beyond our region. The Marlowe Academy of Performing Arts (MAPA) delivers full-time courses for young people aged 16–19 in partnership with East Kent Colleges Group. We’re the home of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures’ Cygnet School, a fully subsidised pre-vocational training programme in dance, while our award-winning apprenticeships programme offers real-world experience of working in the creative sector.

And we’re expanding. We’re transforming Canterbury’s 800-year-old Poor Priests’ Hospital into a heritage destination – and this reborn medieval landmark will also serve as the home of The Hive, a vital new creative learning centre set to benefit 20,000 young people every year. When this £8.5m transformation is complete, the Poor Priests’ Hospital will bring together Canterbury’s extraordinary history with much-needed new creative facilities for young people – further cementing the Marlowe’s place at the centre of cultural life in Kent.