Monkeywood Theatre

On the radio…

cesca — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:15:19 +0000

Sarah and Dan will be on BBC Radio Manchester at 3.20pm today to talk about Maine Road, how excited Monkeywood are to get the tour off the ground and the familiar faces we expect to see in Friday’s audience!

Maine Road Tour dates 2010

cesca — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:17:37 +0000

The new production of Maine Road tours from The Lowry on Fri 12, Thu 18, Fri 19 & Sat 20 March 2010 to:

Sat 10 April, 7.30pm – Action Transport Theatre

Whitby Hall, Stanney Lane, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. CH65 9AE

0151 357 2120

www.actiontransporttheatre.org

Sat 24 April, 7.30pm – Saltburn Community Theatre

Albion Terrace, Saltburn by the Sea, TS12 1JW

01287 624 622

www.saltburnarts.net

Fri 30 April 2010, 8pm – Halifax Square Chapel

10 Square Road, Halifax, HX1 1QG.

01422 349 422

www.squarechapel.co.uk

Maine Road, by writer Sarah McDonald Hughes, premièred at the 24:7 Theatre Festival 2009 to resounding 4 star reviews and sell out performances. The script has undergone significant development for the 2010 tour, following production by the BBC as a radio 4 afternoon play. Monkeywood are delighted that the Maine Road tour is supported by Arts Council England with funding awarded through the Grants for the Arts initiative and Sarah’s rewriting of Maine Road was supported by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation.

Leo is an avid City fan who finds his team packing up and leaving at the same time as his whole word falls apart. It is May 2003 and as the last game at Manchester City’s Maine Road stadium approaches, a family in mourning face their own struggle to survive. Let down by those he depends on most, Leo escapes into football and City, knowing that soon they’ll be gone too.

Monkeywood Theatre

Monkeywood are Sarah McDonald Hughes, Francesca Waite and Martin Gibbons. Producing plays in Manchester since 2003, Maine Road follows Last Orders at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Studio; A Song for the Lovers, performed at The Lowry in Salford, making whatsonstage’s final list of 2008’s top productions, described as “highly charged and engaging…packed with humour and pathos”; Coach G, performed in 2005 at Manchester’s Taurus Bar, Chorlton Arts Festival and Studio Salford described in the Evening News as “Hip… edgy and watchable… compelling and intriguing new play… well-served by a talented young cast” and Closer by Patrick Marber at Manchester’s Platt Chapel in 2003.

Tickets go on sale for Halifax

cesca — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:16:41 +0000

Maine Road’s final stop on the Spring 2010 tour is Halifax Square Chapel on Fri 30 April. Tickets are priced at £10 (£8 concessions) and have just gone onsale. They can be bought online here

Thanks again to whatsonstage

cesca — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:45:23 +0000

5 reasons to see Maine Road with martin on whatsonstage.com

Peggy Ramsay Foundation

cesca — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:47:59 +0000

There’s been more fantastic support for Monkeywood this week! The Peggy Ramsay Foundation have commended Sarah’s writing of Maine Road by funding its redevelopment.

Peggy Ramsay was one of the best-known play agents in the United Kingdom during the second half of the Twentieth Century. When she died in 1991 her estate was left for charitable purposes to help writers and writing for the stage.

Not in my name…

cesca — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:22:18 +0000

Dan Fitzsimons, Monkeywood’s very own Leo in Maine Road, will be performing Not in my Name at The Brindley Runcorn this week with Fuse Theatre.

Not in my Name realistically portrays the aftermath, community impact and personal consequences of a fictional terror attack as told from the perspective of a group of young characters.

For more info and tickets… Not in my name

Preview coverage for Maine Road 2010

cesca — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:56:12 +0000

Drama Student Magazine 3 February 2010

Whatsonstage Preview 29 Jan 2010

Developments by 24:7 Alumni

5 reasons to see Maine Road with whatsonstage March 2010

Maine Road 2010 Press release

cesca — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:49:43 +0000

Manchester Theatre Company’s tour kicks off at The Lowry…

Monkeywood Theatre present

Maine Road

By Sarah McDonald Hughes

Directed by Martin Gibbons

The Lowry, Salford Quays

Fri 12, Thu 18, Fri 19 & Sat 20 March 2010

Press night Fri 12 March at 8pm

Manchester-based Monkeywood Theatre have it all to play for as the 2010 tour of Maine Road opens in The Lowry’s Quays theatre on Fri 12 March. A story about football, family, bricks and mortar, the company hopes Maine Road will strike a chord with football fans as well as theatre-goers.

The script for Maine Road was shortlisted for the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2009, the most prestigious radio drama prize in the country. It was highly commended in a shortlist of 9, winning Sarah a year’s writing mentorship with the BBC. This is Sarah’s second award nomination, following her children’s play, The Tree, which was shortlisted for Theatre Centre’s Adrienne Benham Award in 2008.

As one cultural Manchester phenomenon, Maine Road, was being bulldozed, another was just forming. Monkeywood Theatre were established in 2003 and have been producing plays to great acclaim ever since. Previous productions include Last Orders, in 2009 as part of the Royal Exchange’s PUB season and the 5 star A Song for the Lovers at The Lowry, in 2008.

The audience said: “As a City fan it brought back very fond memories. As a theatre worker I thought it was excellent….It’s like someone wrote down my life!”

The reviewers said: “Maine Road is a gentle and moving play examining the effect of change upon those things from which we derive our identity and sense of community…. Maine Road avoids nostalgia to deliver a bittersweet, moving tale that is highly recommended.” Whatsonstage.com

Images: (l-r) Writer Sarah McDonald Hughes © Sylvia Selzer, Maine Road and Daniel Fitzsimons as Leo in Maine Road © Miriam Ainsworth

Maine Road

The Lowry, Salford Quays

Fri 12, Thu 18, Fri 19 & Sat 20 March 2010

Times: Fri 12 at 8pm, Thu 18 – Sat 20 at 7.45pm, Sat mat at 2.30pm

Tickets: £5 – £10

0843 208 6000 www.thelowry.com

- Ends –

For more information please go to www.monkeywoodtheatre.co.uk or email francesca@monkeywoodtheatre.co.uk

Notes to Editors

Tour

The new production of Maine Road tours from The Lowry to:

Sat 10 April, 7.30pm – Action Transport Theatre

Whitby Hall, Stanney Lane, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. CH65 9AE

0151 357 2120

www.actiontransporttheatre.org

Sat 24 April, 7.30pm – Saltburn Community Theatre

Albion Terrace, Saltburn by the Sea, TS12 1JW

01287 624 622

www.saltburnarts.net

Fri 30 April 2010, 8pm – Halifax Square Chapel

10 Square Road, Halifax, HX1 1QG.

01422 349 422

www.squarechapel.co.uk

Monkeywood Theatre

Monkeywood are Sarah McDonald Hughes from Moss Side, Francesca Waite from Didsbury and Martin Gibbons from Saltburn. Producing plays in Manchester since 2003, Maine Road follows Last Orders at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Studio; A Song for the Lovers, performed at The Lowry in Salford, making whatsonstage’s final list of 2008’s top productions, described as “highly charged and engaging…packed with humour and pathos”; Coach G, performed in 2005 at Manchester’s Taurus Bar, Chorlton Arts Festival and Studio Salford described in the Evening News as “Hip… edgy and watchable… compelling and intriguing new play… well-served by a talented young cast” and Closer by Patrick Marber at Manchester’s Platt Chapel in 2003.

Maine Road rehearsals are under way…

cesca — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:48:28 +0000

Rehearsals began this week for the forthcoming tour of Maine Road. All of the original cast have been reunited to work on Sarah’s script which has been developed again for the stage since the adaptation for BBC Radio 4. The tour begins on Friday 12 March at 8pm in The Lowry’s Quays Theatre (tickets still available at The Lowry), then in the Studio for Thu 18 – Sat 20 March (the only tickets available are for the 2pm performance on Sat), then to Whitby Hall in Ellesmere Port on Sat 10 April, Saltburn Community hall on Sat 24 April and Halifax Square Chapel on Fri 30 April.

The cast are Dan Fitzsimons (Leo), Marie Critchley (Elaine), Sarah McDonald Hughes (Jade), Thomas Aldersley (Clive) and Francesca Waite (Donna/Landlady). Maine Road is directed again by Martin Gibbons with sound by Mat Clowes and stage management by Miriam Ainsworth.

A walk down memory lane

cesca — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:45:37 +0000

This afternoon Sarah took a walk down Maine Road with local Man City player, Nedum Onuoha, talking about what it was like when City still played at the old stadium. Nedum was asking Sarah about what had inspired her to write the play, what her memories of Maine Road were and whether she is a City fan (you’ll have to check back to find out the answer!) Sarah then turned the tables, asking Nedum what the ground meant to him and whether he’d ever done a bit of carminding himself!

The chat was being filmed for the Man City website, so we’ll put the link up here as soon as we can.

Little known fact… that Nedum actually went to the same 6th form college (Xaverian in Rusholme) as 3 of the cast, Sarah, Francesca and Marie – just not at the same time!

Thanks to Neil and Nedum for a fun (if freezing) afternoon!