In 1947 a new drama Group, The Faversham Players, was formed. They performed at various venues in Faversham until the early 1970s when a Faversham solicitor Leslie Smith donated land for a swimming pool and a corner of this land contained a coach house which he donated to the Faversham Players. The coach house was converted into a 72-seat theatre named after Thomas Arden, a local “worthy” in Henry VIII’s time who made himself very unpopular and got murdered by his wife’s lover. This prompted the first English play about ordinary people, rather than nobility or gods, written in Shakespeare’s time but probably not by him (other than, possibly, a short section – a very tenuous connection with Shakespeare’s Arden!). The old Arden opened on 25th May with a play written by Maurice Patterson, one of the founders of the theatre: Cold Old Blow, a topical play about Faversham.
In 1992 work started on an indoor swimming pool adjoining the existing outdoor pool, but the old Arden Theatre was in the way so negotiations led to the coachhouse theatre’s demolition and replacement with a new 98-seat theatre. However, this theatre was not ideal; it was probably designed to be converted into a gym, or similar, when the theatre failed. This never happened. Instead, the theatre initiated a number of improvements inside the building and in the garden. But first, there was an early attempt to extend the theatre in 1994, which came to nothing due to the resignation from the committee by Ms Robin Gregory the fund-raiser.
In 2002 the very tall foyer had a floor inserted over, it to form a costume store, and the raised planters were added to the garden with the planter edges designed as seating benches. This was followed by the creation of another new floor, this time over the dressing room to create a small auxiliary dressing room upstairs. In 2005 a dedicated entrance to the theatre was created, so the audience did not need to enter the theatre via the swimming pool entrance, and in 2006 the container was installed in the garden for storage of scenery flats, etc. In 2010 the large dying Norway Maple tree was felled and a replacement hornbeam was planted in the Arden car park. Then in 2018 the foyer and bar were revamped and the ghastly backstage loo changed into a paint store.
Finally, in 2017 the proposed side extension design was finalised and a planning application was made and approved on 7th March 2019.