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

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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.

Sometimes getting away isn’t that easy…

Monkeywood Theatre Company

A Song For The Lovers

By Sarah McDonald Hughes

Directed by Anna McDonald Hughes

A Song For The Lovers

25, 26, 27, 28 and 30 July 2006

Bedlam, Peter Street, Manchester

“I’m going to look after you, Catie. I think I can.” Davy’s never had a best mate before. So he’s not going to let anything come between him and Catie – especially not Jenna.

As part of the 24:7 Theatre Festival, Monkeywood premieres a compelling, funny story about friendship, despair, optimism and love.  Catie (Sarah McDonald-Hughes) needs to make a change but doesn’t know it until she meets Davy (Martin Gibbons), who would do just about anything to make her happy.  Their adventures begin one night in Manchester when Catie’s old friend, Jenna (Francesca Waite), tries to help Catie see that there must be another way.

A Song For The Lovers, written by Sarah McDonald Hughes and directed by her sister, Anna McDonald Hughes, is produced by emerging Manchester-based theatre company Monkeywood.  Formed in 2003 with an innovative production of Patrick Marber’s ‘Closer’, they received rave reviews for their own production, Coach G in 2005 and are passionate about performance and new writing.

For a third year the 24:7 Theatre Festival brings one-hour plays from some of the region’s creative talent to unusual venues across the city.  This year’s festival will run from 24 – 30 July.

Image credits l – r Martin Gibbons, Sarah McDonald Hughes and Francesca Waite

© Sean Turner 2006

Design Marcus Diamond 2006

Press Preview

Sunday 23 July 2:15pm

A Song For The Lovers

Bedlam, Peter Street, Manchester

25, 26, 27, 28 and 30 July 2006

7.15pm

Tickets: £6/£5 Box office: 0161 236 7110 or www.247theatrefestival.co.uk or www.quaytickets.com

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Local theatre company keep football close to their hearts

Monkeywood Theatre present

Maine Road

By Sarah McDonald Hughes

Directed by Martin Gibbons

Pure: Funktion, The Printworks Mon 20 – Sat 25 July 2009

As the opening of the sixth annual 24:7 Theatre Festival approaches, South Manchester-based Monkeywood Theatre have it all to play for. Maine Road, written by Sarah McDonald Hughes, is the company’s second outing in the festival and one they hope 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 mentorship at 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.

Set in 2003, Maine Road happens at the time when Manchester City were playing the last few games at their hallowed stadium, before it was bulldozed. The story follows Leo, a teenager whose world is collapsing just like his beloved ground.

Writer Sarah explains what inspired her, “I’m really interested in the idea that places can have real meaning and impact on people’s lives. I live near what was the Maine Road stadium in Moss Side and it’s amazing how much of a legacy of the ground is still there.”

In addition to Sarah, Monkeywood are Francesca Waite from Didsbury and Martin Gibbons, also from Moss Side. The company have been together since 2003, producing plays in Manchester to great acclaim. Maine Road follows their last production, A Song for the Lovers, which was performed in 2008 at The Lowry in Salford. Marking Sarah’s playwriting debut, it was given 5 stars by whatsonstage, described as “highly charged and engaging…packed with humour and pathos”, making their final list of top productions of 2008.

Maine Road

Pure: Funktion

The Printworks, Manchester, M4 2BS

Mon 20 – Sat 25 July 2009

Tickets £8/£6

Times Mon 20 9pm, Tue 21 12.30pm, Wed 22 7.30pm,

Thu 23 6pm, Sat 25 3.30pm

0870 428 0785 or www.247theatrefestival.co.uk

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