The Little Theatre was a venue in Sandgate, Kent, England that hosted many performances by the Folkestone-Hythe Operatic and Dramatic Society (FHODS).
History
In 1963, FHODS acquired a small former church in Sandgate and set about converting it into a dedicated performance space. The result was The Little Theatre — a 104-seat venue that would serve as the Society's home for approximately forty years.
The acquisition marked a significant step forward for FHODS. Prior to The Little Theatre, the Society had spent twelve remarkable years at the Ham Yard Theatre — a 57-seat space created from part of the Queen's Hotel annexe in Church Street, Folkestone — where it had staged an extraordinary 114 productions. The move to Sandgate offered considerably more capacity and, crucially, a permanent home that FHODS could call its own.
The Little Theatre became a sanctuary for creativity and community, hosting countless performances across the decades. Productions ranged from straight drama to musical theatre, and the venue developed a loyal local audience throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The Sandgate Society Archive holds photographs of FHODS productions staged there, including a staging of Hobson's Choice, which give a flavour of the theatre's intimate character and the ambition of the Society's work within its modest walls.
The closure and subsequent demolition of the Pleasure Gardens Theatre during the 1960s meant that large-scale operatic productions required alternative venues. FHODS met this challenge by staging grander productions in spaces including the Odeon and the Ritz in Hythe, and Folkestone's Town Hall. The Little Theatre meanwhile continued to serve as the Society's creative heartland for smaller-scale work.
In 1975, FHODS introduced its now-beloved annual pantomime, staged initially at the Leas Pavilion Theatre before transferring to the Leas Cliff Hall, where it ran for over two decades. This expansion of the Society's programme reflected an ambition that was increasingly difficult to fulfil within the confines of a 104-seat venue.
The Little Theatre, though much loved, did not allow for the large-scale pantomimes and musicals that FHODS aspired to produce. As the Society grew in both membership and reputation, the search began for a permanent home capable of hosting the full range of its productions. When the former Garrison Church of St Mark at Shorncliffe came onto the market in 2001, FHODS identified it as an extraordinary opportunity — one that would ultimately give rise to The Tower Theatre.
The Little Theatre's contribution to the cultural life of Sandgate and the wider Folkestone area should not be understated. For four decades it provided a home in which generations of performers developed their craft, and in which the traditions of community theatre that define FHODS to this day were shaped and sustained.
After FHODS' departure from The Little Theatre, it was renovated and repurposed as five dwellings.
- FHODS purchased the Little Theatre in 1963.
- The 104-seat theater was a creative hub for over 40 years
- FHODS moved out of the Little Theatre in 2007