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From player to prayer |
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New hope finally arrived in 1926 when millionaire racehorse owner, Terence Gray, bought the building and revived its role as a theatre. Inspired by Edward Gordon Craig, Gray sought to bring a new type of theatre to the people.
The final act
He gave realism the elbow and embraced the expressionist movement of the time. He tore down the original proscenium arch, which he felt constricted the performers and dictated the style of performance and replaced it with the UK's first ever cyclorama, a 40 foot curved back-drop. Light became the new 'scenery', cuboid platforms the new set.
He opened the new season with a masked version of the Oresteia and established The Festival Theatre as the place for avant-garde theatre at the time. The 'A' list heavyweights of the day trod the boards and graced the velvet, but spotlight longevity proved elusive for the venue.
Despite the efforts of The Marlowe Society, the theatre eventually closed in 1939, after a brief reprise in the form of World War II troop entertainment. It never again recaptured its former glory days.
However, the 'audience' was to return once more, with a brand new idol centre stage. In March 1998, the theatre was bought by the Windhorse Trust and is now the proud home of The Cambridge Buddhist Centre.
The cream painted walls bring lightness and a sense of space to a place once hallowed only in the darkness of night.
On the stage the golden Buddha now sits calling for calm and serenity - replacing the exuberant and manic energy spent in search of wild applause. Gone are the richly decorated box fronts under the unforgiving magnolia brushstrokes, but scrape away the gloss and underneath, the nineteenth Century design imitating panels of red fabric remain, along with the God-fearing words of the mission hall texts.
The soul of the building remains unchanged: for people to celebrate, to worship and find the light.
Words by: Emma Borley-Johnson
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