MADS Theatre

Last updated

MADS Theatre
MADS theatre.JPG
Exterior of MADS Theatre on Lord Street since 1954
MADS Theatre
AddressLord Street Macclesfield Cheshire [1]
United Kingdom
TypeLocal
Opened15 October 1947;75 years ago (15 October 1947)

MADS Theatre is a theatre in the town of Macclesfield, Cheshire, England.

Contents

History

The theatre was founded on 15 October 1947 and since then has produced hundreds of productions. [1] The location originally hosting a Sunday School in Lord Street built in 1822 still has the inscription over the main theatre entrance bearing the date of the first building on the site.

Following having to move to the ground floor in 1976 due to fire regulations, it was decided in 1980 to rebuild the theatre. [1] The rebuilt theatre was opened on 16 May 1984 by Nicholas Winterton MP for Macclesfield. [1]

Notable productions

In 2016 MADS Theatre company performed six short plays by Tennessee Williams, [2] also in 2016 MADS took part in Barnaby Festival. [3]

At the 2016 British All Winners Drama festival held at the Hertford Theatre MADS production of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by Steve Canny & John Nicholson won the Felixstowe Festival Trophy (Adjudicator's Award) and the Sydney Fisher Trophy (Backstage Trophy). [4]

In 2017, MADS' production of Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth won best production at the Greater Manchester Drama Festival (GMDF).

Marshall Lancaster and Jonathon Morris have been members.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i> 1947 play by Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of personal losses, leaves her once-prosperous situation to move into a shabby apartment in New Orleans rented by her younger sister and brother-in-law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee Williams</span> American playwright (1911–1983)

Thomas Lanier Williams III, known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama.

<i>Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</i> Stage play by Tennessee Williams

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a three-act play written by Tennessee Williams. The play, an adaptation of his 1952 short story "Three Players of a Summer Game", was written between 1953 and 1955. One of Williams's more famous works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955. Set in the "plantation home in the Mississippi Delta" of Big Daddy Pollitt, a wealthy cotton tycoon, the play examines the relationships among members of Big Daddy's family, primarily between his son Brick and Maggie the "Cat", Brick's wife.

<i>Hello, Dolly!</i> (musical) 1964 Broadway musical

Hello, Dolly! is a 1964 musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955. The musical follows the story of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder.

<i>Sweet Bird of Youth</i> 1959 play by Tennessee Williams

Sweet Bird of Youth is a 1959 play by Tennessee Williams which tells the story of a gigolo and drifter, Chance Wayne, who returns to his home town as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. The main reason for his homecoming is to get back what he had in his youth: primarily, his old girlfriend, whose father had run him out of town years before. The play was written for Tallulah Bankhead, a good friend of Williams.

Esther Davis is an Australian actress and singer, best known for her roles as Phryne Fisher in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and its film adaptation, Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears, and as Amelia Vanek in The Babadook. Other major works include a recurring role as Lady Crane in season six of the television series Game of Thrones, Sister Iphigenia in Lambs of God, and the role of Ellen Kelly in Justin Kurzel's True History of the Kelly Gang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tara Fitzgerald</span> English actress

Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage. She won the New York Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play in 1995 as Ophelia in Hamlet. She won the Best Actress Award at The Reims International Television Festival in 1999 for her role of Lady Dona St Columb in Frenchman's Creek. Fitzgerald has appeared in the West End production of The Misanthrope at the Comedy Theatre, and in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Donmar Warehouse. Since 2007, Fitzgerald has appeared in more than 30 episodes of the BBC television series Waking the Dead and played the role of Selyse Baratheon in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Morse</span> American actor (1931–2022)

Robert Alan Morse was an American actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen he's received two Tony Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

John Henry Lahr is an American theater critic and writer. From 1992 to 2013, he was a staff writer and the senior drama critic at The New Yorker. He has written more than twenty books related to theater. Lahr has been called "one of the greatest biographers writing today".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherry Jones</span> American actress

Cherry Jones is an American actress. Having started her career in theatre as a founding member of the American Repertory Theatre in 1980, she then transitioned into film and television. Celebrated for her dynamic roles on stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards, as well as nominations for an Olivier Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Pendleton</span> American actor

Austin Campbell Pendleton is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicola Walker</span> British actress (born 1970)

Nicola Jane Walker is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks and DCI Cassie Stuart in Unforgotten (2015–2021). She has also worked in theatre, radio and film. She won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax.

Tracy Lynn Middendorf is an American television, movie, and stage actress. Middendorf's most notable roles were in the horror film Wes Craven's New Nightmare, the MTV series Scream, and the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. She also appeared in the Broadway production of Ah, Wilderness!. She has won two Ovation Awards, one Drama-Logue Award, and one Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for her stage work, and also received an American Movie Award in 2015.

Seana McKenna is a Canadian actress primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Lia Williams is an English actress and director, known for stage, film, and television appearances. She is noted for her role as Wallis Simpson in The Crown.

Adam Rothenberg is an American actor, best known for his role as Capt. Homer Jackson in the BBC One drama mystery series Ripper Street (2012–16). In film, he has starred in Mad Money (2008) as Bob Truman, Tennessee (2008) as Carter, and The Immigrant (2013) as Officer DeKeiffer.

The Two Character Play is an American play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in London at the Hampstead Theatre in December 1967. Williams himself had great affection for the play, and described it as follows:

Benedict Andrews is an Australian theatre and film director, based in Reykjavík. Born in Adelaide in 1972, he was educated at Flinders University Drama Centre. His first feature film Una was released in 2016.

Seth Numrich is an American stage, television, and film actor.

Jeff Barnaby was a Canadian film director, writer, composer, and film editor. He is known for his horror films Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Blood Quantum.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "MADS History". Visit Macclesfield. 9 June 2015. Archived from the original on 4 October 2015.
  2. McDowall, Rhiannon (17 October 2016). "Theatre troupe brings Tennessee Williams to Macclesfield stage". Macclesfield Express .
  3. "MADS at Barnaby Festival". Barnaby Festival.
  4. "MADS Win". National Drama Festival Association.