Click here to watch their nostalgic VT and here to see the news item they also posted.

Many thanks to Nedum, Neil Cole and Karen Procter at MCFC!

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.

(c) Image courtesy of Manchester City Football Club

Whatsonstage Preview 29 Jan 2010

Developments by 24:7 Alumni

5 reasons to see Maine Road with whatsonstage March 2010

BBC Radio Manchester’s Becky Want’s  interview with Sarah and Dan on Tue 9 March (at 1.21.32)

Manchester City FC website’s preview of Maine Road

MCFC website’s news item

Dig Yorkshire

Saltburn Gazette

Chester Chronicle

Reviews…

Public Reviews 4 stars

whatsonstage 4 stars

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Maine Road tour 2010 now kicks off at The Lowry’s Quays Theatre on Fri 12 March 2010 at 8pm. It has been promoted to the plush, red haven that is The Quays for one night only for a special preview performance.  In view of the great interest and the huge demand for tickets we have also added a matinee performance on Saturday 20 March at 2pm in The Lowry Studio.

Tickets for the opening night in the Quays theatre are priced at £10 (£8 concession) and are available online by clicking here or by calling the box office on 0843 208 6000. Group Discount is 1 in 10 free. We urge you to buy your tickets as soon as possible as the demand for tickets at The Lowry are so high!

Maine Road premiéred last summer at the 24:7 Theatre Festival.  However, following production of the radio play by BBC, the play has undergone significant development. The new production tours from The Lowry to Action Transport Theatre on Sat 10 April, Saltburn Community Theatre on Sat 24 April and finally Halifax Square Chapel on Fri 30 April 2010.  This tour is supported by Arts Council England and has been awarded funding through the Grants for the Arts initiative.

We hope very much to see you there!

Francesca, Martin & Sarah

Monkeywood Theatre

Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone…

Leo loves football; loves City. Saturdays mean car-minding and listening to the match from the backyard. That is, until his world is bulldozed around him…

Already a 4 star success at Manchester’s 2009 24:7 Festival, Monkeywood Theatre present Maine Road, a story about football, family, bricks and mortar. Leo is an avid City fan who finds his team packing up and leaving at just about the same time that his whole word is falling apart.

‘Great stuff, with some tremendous performances’ **** Kevin Bourke, Manchester Evening News

Monkeywood Theatre have been producing plays to great acclaim since 2003. Previous productions include Last Orders as part of the Royal Exchange’s PUB season and the 5 star A Song for the Lovers at The Lowry.

Thu 18 – Sat 20 March

The Lowry

Times Eves 7.45pm

Tickets Apex £5, Standard £7.50, On the Day £10

If you missed the live broadcast, you can always listen again on the iplayer.

“Very moving and very well performed. Highly recommended.

Quite touching and melancholic (Being a blue!).

Very authentic and believable.

Moving, disturbing – well done.

Thought it was really good – touching but not over sentimental.

Great stuff – avoided cliché and believable.

Strong performance from all the cast. Leo’s performance was outstanding.

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 play was very moving and dramatic in parts – An excellent performance – Leo was brilliant!”

City Life / M.E.N.

4 stars

It’s not hard to see why the BBC were so enthusiastic about the radio version of this play… Great stuff, with some tremendous performances.

What’s on Stage

4 stars

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.

at Pure: Funktion as part of the 24:7 Theatre Festival, Mon 20 – Sat 25 July 2009

All images with kind permission and copyright of Miriam Ainsworth