by Gerry Warren

gwarren@thekmgroup

Canterbury's prestigious new £25 million Marlowe Theatre has been beset with teething problems resulting in hundreds of complaints, director Mark Everett admitted this week.

The most serious is the 'restricted view’ from the upper circle 'slip’ seats which has resulted in offers of refunds and discounts.

Other theatre-goers have also complained about the draughty foyer, poor seat numbering, the steepness of the upper circle, lack of central aisle in the stalls and inadequate hand-dryers in the washrooms.

Speaking exclusively to the Gazette, Mr Everett appealed for customers to 'bear with us’ while they try to solve the problems.

He said: “We have had about 400 letters, emails and calls with people complaining about different aspects of their experience.

"All I can say is that the building is new to us, too, and we are working very hard to resolve the problems.

"Some things are more easily fixable than others, like the hand-dryers which we are simply going to replace.

"Others like the high level slip seating and foyer area are not so easy but we are looking at what we can do to make them better.

"We have had tens of thousands of people through the doors since we opened and the vast majority have been full of praise and love their new theatre. but obviously, we want to make things better where we can.

"I can only ask people to bear with us and we will put right what we can.”

The Marlowe Theatre website now describes the upper circle slip seats as having a 'restricted view’ and will be sold at a discounted price.

See this week's Gazette for full report and reaction.