History

Lyme Regis has a modest but notable history with cinema. The town’s cinematic connection is influenced both by its natural beauty, which has attracted a number of filmmakers, and its community efforts to foster local film culture which continues to this day.

Early cinema in Lyme Regis was typical of most small towns. Screenings would be shown in temporary picture houses which would often be village halls etc, the Marine Theatre or the Lyme Regis Drill Hall as it was known back then (late 1880s- early 1900s) would have been a primary location for cinema.

In the 1930s the Drill Hall became the Marine Cinema. It was used for entertaining visiting naval ships, HMS Rodney in 1930, and Destroyers HMS Vidette and HMS Westcott in July 1932. During World War II it became a services canteen with ENSA and American concert parties performing on the stage, including stars such as James Cagney and American heavyweight boxing legend Joe Louis. The Marine Cinema was closed after the end of World War II in 1946, and was converted into the Marine Theatre to the plans of architectural firm Webb & Partners.

Seeing the demand for cinema in Lyme Regis, The Regent Cinema was born. It is believed that Lyme Regis is the smallest town in England to have had its own cinema.

This Regent was the brainchild of local and independent cinema operator, Donald Hardy and his father Walter. The cinema was a splendid Art Deco style picture house designed by Bristol based architect William Henry Watkins. Opening on the 11th of October with Hugh Wakefield in “The Limping Man”. The cinema provided a sense of community within the town, regularly hosting silver screen films and hosting Lyme Regis Film society. It was sadly destroyed by a fire which broke out on the 22nd March 2016, while staff were preparing for the cinema to open for the matinee screening of “Hail, Caesar” starring George Clooney.

Lyme Regis is also known as a shoot destination with a number of large productions being filmed in this little town. Arguably the most famous being The French Lieutenant’s Woman released in 1981 featuring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. Other films shot in Lyme Regis include Ammonite (2020) starring Kate Winslet & Saoirse Ronan, Wonka (2022) featuring Timothee Chalamet and Matt Lucas, Netflix series Heartstopper (2024) and many more.

Future

The Marine Theatre is truly delighted to announce cinema as part of our 2025 programme.

Over the last three years, we have been hard at work fundraising to offer our local community the very best cinema experience possible without having to travel out of town. Our efforts have now paid off.

The audience experience has been at the very heart of our plans. We are so pleased to share a full cinema experience with a state-of-the-art DCP projector, new comfortable seating, beautiful golden British velvet curtains and an enhanced cinema sound system!

We’re delighted to launch our new cinema programme with one of the most celebrated actors of his generation. Brian Cox, star of countless plays, films, and television series is visiting Lyme Regis for an exclusive event. On Tuesday 28 January Brian will be interviewed on stage and his film Manhunter will be shown – there will even be a chance for audience questions. We hope you can join us for this very special evening, which will be raising funds for the Marine Theatre Young Filmmakers’ Course starting this year. Book your tickets and find out more about the cinema launch event here.

Details of programmed films will be shared on the Marine’s website – and please look out for special cinema events and family films during holiday times!

We would like to send a heartfelt thanks to all the organisations that have made the Marine Cinema possible. Our particular thanks to Lyme Regis Town Council whose generous support of not only the cinema project, but also through the continued support of the Marine.

Grateful thanks for support of the Marine cinema to Dorset Council, Backstage Trust, Garfield Weston and our sponsors Symondsbury Manor & The Seaside Boarding House.

Independent Venue Week (27th Jan – 2nd Feb 2025) is the UK’s annual 7-day celebration of independent music & arts venues and the people that own, run and work in them. IVW has empowered local music communities, with thousands of artists playing thousands of shows in villages, towns & cities all around the UK and the US.

We have just announced that Gilles Peterson, well known broadcaster, DJ and record collector who hosts a weekly Saturday afternoon show on BBC Radio 6 Music is performing on the 30th of January as part of our IVW line-up.

There are more artists to be announced so keep an eye out!

Find out more and grab your tickets here – Gilles Peterson presents Independent Venue Tour feat Oreglo – Marine Theatre

We are delighted to share the news that The National Lottery Community Fund has offered funding to the Marine to continue the Senior Creatives programme for another 2 years!

The Marine’s Senior Creatives sessions have been incredibly popular with our older community with up to 60 people taking part in tea dances and singing every month.

The tea dances are an opportunity for a daytime dance under the twinkling mirror ball in the Marine’s beautiful auditorium. Those that prefer to just watch are welcome to come along too and enjoy the music and atmosphere.

Singing is led by professional choirmaster Sammy Hurden and offers a chance for people to come together to sing some classic numbers such as ‘Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend’

We are truly grateful to be able to continue the sessions at the Marine as we have seen how much joy they bring to so many people. However, we are over the moon that the grant also includes our first cross-county outreach opportunities in Portland and Swanage. For the first time, the Marine will be supporting other theatres to bring creative activities to older people across the county!

All sessions are free of charge and include refreshments.

Congratulations to all the community players who dressed up in this years community play (‘A Midsummer Lyme’s Dream’) costumes and joined the 2024 Lyme Regis Carnival Procession. A special shout out to the wonderful Rose May and Amanda Kathrens Mayne who designed and made all the costumes.

‘Oi Get Off Our Train’ by John Burningham. Drama workshop.

As a small boy drifts off to sleep, he dreams that he is taking a journey around the world in his model train. He visits many different habitats where endangered animals beg a lift on the train to escape their impending extinction, brought about by the thoughtlessness and greed of those who misuse the environment. Initially unwilling to take more passengers, he relents as he hears each creature’s
plight.

On Wednesday 3rd July at the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis Year 10 GCSE students from Woodroffe School will team up with students from Mountjoy Special School to explore this powerful and enchanting story. Working together the students will use drama games and techniques to bring the story to life
through movement, dialogue, sound, costume and mask. This inclusive and empowering experience will allow participants to learn new skills, work with peers with different life experiences to themselves, build their confidence and have fun.

We are delighted to share the news that Dorset Council has awarded the Marine Theatre a grant to support our creative work for the next three years. Dorset County Council’s Organisational Support Revenue Fund is available to cultural organisations based in Dorset. This funding will help to support the many creative projects we offer at the Marine. In particular, the Marine Youth Theatre which welcomes over 80 local children and young people, aged from 3yrs – 18yrs, to the theatre every week. It will also help to support our Senior Creatives programme which offers monthly singing and dancing for older people.

We are actively looking to widen access to young people from diverse backgrounds in our creative engagement opportunities. We will do this by investing in our ambition to encourage more participation in the Marine Youth Theatre and technical skills training sessions. As well as providing cultural activities for our Lyme Regis community, this funding will enable the Marine to lead creative programmes further across Dorset. We have already started to reach out to areas where there is little access to culture. This financial security now allows planning to start on a series of out-reach projects to bring communities together and promote social well-being for some of the most vulnerable members of our Dorset communities. 

Gabrielle Rabbitts, Director of the Marine Theatre said that ‘this funding really will make a positive difference to the quality of life of so many people and I would like to express heartfelt thanks to Dorset Council for the support of our work. The Marine has created many ways to welcome people of all ages to join in with creative activities and build their own theatre community. I am very much looking forward to seeing our community grow with an increased range of events at the Marine as well as helping other areas, especially children and young people, to enjoy the benefits of building their own theatre communities’

Below are some words from Su who will be running this exciting summer season of plays.

Hello. My name is Su Gilroy, and I’m bringing a 3-week season of 3 plays to the Marine Theatre this August. The plays have not yet been announced (as they’ve not yet been decided!) so watch this space. From what I’ve found out so far, there was a rep season here back in the 60s, but there’s been nothing since. If anyone has any more information about that, or remembers it at all, I’d be really interested to hear about it – click here to contact Su.

Why do I want to bring rep to Lyme Regis? Well, for one thing, Lyme Regis is such a beautiful place, and who doesn’t want to spend their summer in a gorgeous town on the amazing Jurassic coast? Although, actually, I love rep and would do it anywhere! In fact, I have done rep in Torquay, Swindon, Wolverhampton, Redditch, Crewe, Billingham and Sidmouth (some of which could not be called beautiful!). It’s hard work, as we’ll be doing a different play each week, but it’s great to bring a number of
traditional rep plays to a community in a short period of time – I love standing in the foyer as people leave, and listening to them talking about the play they’ve just seen, sometimes comparing it to the play they saw last week, or wondering what parts members of the acting company will be playing next week. Pablo Picasso said ‘The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls” and I think theatre is a great way of doing that.

I also wrote my dissertation on rep – specifically the sort of commercial rep that would have been in Lyme Regis in the 60s. I was looking at reasons for its decline and hopes for its future, and spent a lot of time researching the history of rep. You’d think that would mean that I could tell you exactly what ‘rep’ is but, alas, I can’t, as it’s meant different things to different people at different times. It’s been able to
survive because it has always adapted. However, I did find that there were several things that all reps had – popular plays, reasonable prices, a company of actors for the season, and the desire to be part of the community. Those are all the things I want to bring to the Marine Theatre this summer.

I interviewed a lot of people for my dissertation, and I asked them why they thought rep was important, and I quoted their responses: “…they felt it fulfils many good functions: it entertains, it gets audiences interested in theatre, it brings people together in a community, it provides an apprenticeship for actors by allowing them to perform in a large variety of plays and to learn from an audience, it maintains and
augments the repertoire of plays.” I do hope that you’ll agree with them, and come and support the rep this summer. I look forward to seeing you!

The Oyster & Fish House Lyme Regis is pairing up with the theatre for very special offer! The Oyster & Fish House is arguably the most picturesque spot in Dorset to enjoy locally sourced fish and seafood. Patron of the Marine and the owner of this Lyme Regis gem Mark Hix is frequently lauded as one of Britain’s most eminent restaurateurs with an unrivalled knowledge of ingredients with provenance.

Marine theatre tickets holders can now enjoy a fantastic two course pre-theatre meal for £21 or an unforgettable 3 course meal for £25. This deal is only applicable on the Marine’s evening events and you must bring your Marine Theatre ticket confirmation to access this offer.

Poco Pizza is offering a very exciting pre-theatre deal for Marine ticket holders. Poco Pizza is a small, friendly restaurant overlooking the beach we pride ourselves on serving you a no-compromise, authentic Italian pizza. We use only the best ingredients, thoughtfully sourced, prepared by hand and served with passion. This deal will only apply on the day of the event and the ticket must be presented to validate the discount.

Marine Theatre ticket holder can enjoy a wood fired *pizza, green salad and drink* for only £20.

(Pizza must be from the main menu and drink must be a beer, glass of wine or soft)

If you’re looking for a location with a view, you’ve found it. Swim is perched right in front of the beach, with epic views looking over the world famous Jurassic Coastline. Pop in for a relaxing coffee with breakfast or enjoy burgers, seafood, and desserts.

Marine Theatre ticket holders* will now receive 10% off all food.

(*The discount is only applicable if used on the day of the event)