It was the place where First World War ambulances returned, the wounded were tended and the healing began.

And in November 1920 the walls of Dover Marine Station were also witness to its most momentous return of all – that of one warrior, unknown who was to become the symbol for a nation’s remembrance.

Now, the station which is part of Dover Cruise Terminal, will stage a major regional contribution to next month’s Armistice centenary commemorations.

Return Of The Unknown, led by The Marlowe, Canterbury, sees drama, music, dance and digital art combine to create an immersive theatrical experience involving more than 640 performers, aged from eight to 80.

Marlowe patron Sir Michael Morpurgo, who is supporting Return Of The Unknown, said: “How should we remember? We can’t. They are all gone. All we can remember is what they have done, and the peace they gave us, a peace we must hold dear. All we can do is sing the anthem; tell the story.”

Sir Michael said it was “wonderful” that The Marlowe was continuing to tell the story with the production in a place “with so many stories to tell”.

Return Of The Unknown is written by James Baldwin, The Marlowe’s literary associate, while Andy Dawson, the theatre’s head of artistic productions, is artistic director.

It is directed by Matt Costain (A Monster Calls, War Horse), with musical direction by Anna Pool (English Touring Opera, Medieval Babes), costumes by Susan Kulkani (Downtown Abbey, Secret Cinema), and lighting by Humphrey McDermott (Footloose, Beauty And The Beast). Puppetry is by Jimmy Grimes, of War Horse fame.

A team of seven professional actors (including Ben Roddy, best known as The Marlowe’s pantomime dame) will be joined by 70 community performers, 13 schools, 14 choir groups, 14 soldiers from The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, and 25 young dancers trained by the internationally-acclaimed Jasmin Vardimon Company.

Return Of The Unknown is a ground-breaking collaboration between the theatre, five east Kent communities, and the Port of Dover.

Led by a professional creative team from The Marlowe, contributors have spent more than a year exploring the story of the Unknown Warrior and what it means to remember.

Show Producer Fiona Banks said: “Return Of The Unknown is a unique opportunity to tell this extraordinary story in the place where our rituals of remembrance began.

“The space resonates with memories of events past and our creative team are relishing the challenge of working with our local communities to uncover stories known and forgotten – creating a piece of event theatre that looks to the past as an inspiration for the next 100 years of remembrance.”

The body of what became known as the Unknown Soldier was the subject of a symbolic funeral at Westminster Abbey.

It derived from an idea by the Rev David Railton, who had seen a grave marked by a rough cross while serving in the British Army as a chaplain on the Western Front. It bore the pencil-written inscription "An Unknown British Soldier".

He suggested (together with the French in their own country) the creation at a national level of a symbolic funeral and burial of an "Unknown Warrior".

He proposed that the grave should in the UK and become a national monument.

The idea received the support of the Dean of Westminster, Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and later from King George V, responding to a wave of public support.

A formal bill was presented in Parliament in November 1918. The decision was voted into law on September 1919 and the body of a soldier, unknown was brought through Dover in November 192 on its way to Westminster Abbey. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was created at Westminster Abbey while in France, which also adopted the Rev Railton's idea, La tombe du soldat inconnu was placed in the Arc de Triomphe.

The railway terminal, at Dover's Western Docks was also where many soldiers left British soil for the First World War, and where 1.26 million wounded soldiers returned.

Return Of The Unknown is at Dover Marine Station from Thursday 8 to Sunday 11 November (various performance times).

It recommended for those aged 10 and over.

Tickets, priced £14.50 (concessions available) are from The Marlowe Box Office on 01227 787787, and marlowetheatre.com.