HERITAGE
To mark the Festival Theatre’s centenary, on 28 November the In Situ: theatre company will be performing a piece entitled 1926 , which will bring out some of the history of this very special building. DON’T MISS!
FESTIVAL THEATRE By Kuladipa
When I go into the theatre, I can feel echoes of all these periods. In the first half of the 19th century, the locals from Barnwell up in the ‘gods’, laughing, cheering and jeering and the smell of oil lamps. Charles Dickens giving readings and many of the finest actors of that era performing. The hymns and preachers resounding in the packed mission hall. The experimental plays of the 1920s, with actors who went on to become Hollywood stars, and Shakespeare performed on roller skates. And in the 21st century, the chanting of Buddhists and this old theatre witnessing people stepping out into a new life.
auctioned off to become an evangelist Mission Hall, and in 1920 it was used as a club for local underprivileged boys run by King’s College. It was in 1926, though, that it was transformed into the Festival Theatre: a home for experimental, avant-garde drama, running parallel to the cutting-edge, challenging theatre happening across Europe. During World War II, troops that were evacuated from Dunkirk were then entertained there. After the war, it was acquired by the Arts Theatre Cambridge as a workshop and wardrobe space. The Cambridge Buddhist Centre has been based there since 1998.
This year is the centenary of the opening of the Festival Theatre, which forms part of the Cambridge Buddhist Centre on Newmarket Road. Its roots, however, go back to medieval times when minstrels, players and performers entertained merchants and visitors at the annual fair on Stourbridge Common. From enclosures at the fair, bigger and more elaborate buildings were erected until the Theatre Barnwell was built on its current site in 1814. Since then, with the main structure today much as it was over two centuries ago, it has gone through several manifestations. In 1878, the theatre was
The Cambridge Buddhist Centre Open Day is on 12 September, offering historic tours of the Festival Theatre and taster sessions for some of the activities it offers. Find out more a t cambridgebuddhistcentre.com/openday26 See for yourself
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK SEPTEMBER 2026 13
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