Thanks to all of the cast and crew involved in both productions – shout outs to Miriam Ainsworth, Rachel Austin, Tom Aldersley, Ted Holden, Lois Maskell, Doug Saunders, Kenan Ally, Dan Fitzsimons and James Harris!

Nominations below…

Best New Play

Last Orders, by Sarah McDonald Hughes, Royal Exchange Studio and Library Replay season at Contact

Mogadishu, by Vivienne Franzmann, Royal Exchange

Once In A House On Fire, adapted for the stage by Sarah McDonald Hughes, from a memoir by Andrea Ashworth, The Lowry Studio

Secret Thoughts, by David Lodge, Bolton Octagon

Best Studio Performance

Matthew Ganley, God Wept And The Devil Laughed, Lowry Studio

Rad Kaim, Ivan and the Dogs, Lowry Studio

Amy Nostbakken, The Big Smoke, Lowry Studio

Sarah McDonald Hughes, Once In A House On Fire, Lowry Studio

Rosie Wyatt, Bunny, Royal Exchange Studio

2011 was a busy year for us again and 2012 looks set to be even more full-on. We began the year by taking part in The Library Theatre’s Re:Play Festival at The Contact, performing Last Orders in the intimate Jabez Clegg bar. We have so much fun performing our short play about new starts, last chances and near misses and were delighted to see the audience enjoyed it just as much. The play gained 4* reviews and has been listed in the top productions of 2011 by Whatsonstage northwest and Public Reviews.

In March we premiered Once in a House on Fire, developed with The Lowry, supported by Arts Council England and funded through grants for the arts. The production sold out four performances at The Lowry studio and added an extra night in The Lowry’s Quays Theatre. We were overwhelmed by the positive emails and tweets from the audience and thrilled by the reviews we received. Following The Lowry we toured the play to The Civic, Barnsley and The New Continental, Preston, ending in May.

In June we had the opportunity to meet talent from across the north. We held open auditions inviting actors who we had never previously worked with to meet with us and were delighted by the high standard we saw. We look forward to being able to work with some new faces in the future.

The second half of the year has been spent working behind the scenes, busily preparing for 2012. In addition to this, Sarah and Martin have been busy with their brand new baby girl! Sarah gave birth to May Gibbons-Hughes in October and we’re so excited to have a mini monkey be part of the team.

In December we were thrilled to learn that our planned 2012 tour of Once in a House of Fire will be supported by Arts Council England and funded through grants for the arts. Now we just can’t wait to get cracking with it! We will be touring to new venues and returning to some of our old favourites. We will release the dates, venues and ticket information in the New Year.

As well as the Spring/Summer tour, we will be beginning Research and Development on a new project, which we will announce in the spring. There will be another exciting project happening simultaneously which we will launch in February. Phew! We will post any opportunities to work with us on our casting page, but please email us at info@monkeywoodtheatre.co.uk if you are performing and would like us to attend your production.

We’d like to thank you all for your support in 2011 and look forward to seeing you in 2012.

Francesca, Sarah & Martin (and baby May!)

2010 has been a busy and exciting year for Monkeywood with our Arts Council funded national tour of Maine Road in Spring and, more recently, our development of Once in a House on Fire in association with The Lowry Studio, also funded by the Arts Council.

2011 is already set to be another important year for us, beginning with Last Orders at the Library Theatre’s re:play festival at the Contact in January. The show is site-specific and will take place at Jabez Clegg on Wed 26 and Thur 27 January 2011.  This is another opportunity to see this perfectly pint-sized piece of theatre that sold out at the Royal Exchange last year. Take your drink in, pull up a bar stool and wonder what happened to the one that got away!

http://www.librarytheatre.com/event/last-orders

This will be followed by two national tours in Spring and Autumn of Once in a House on Fire, beginning at The Lowry on Thur 31 March 2011. The play is based on the bestselling memoir by Andrea Ashworth and has been developed collaboratively by the company. It’s a compelling Mancunian story about growing up in South Manchester in the 1970s and 80s.

http://www.thelowry.com/event/once-in-a-house-on-fire

For more information about all of these projects keep checking the website or you can also follow us on twitter @monkeywood and ‘like’ us on facebook at Monkeywood Theatre.

Thanks so much for your support in 2010 – hope to see you again in the New Year!

All good wishes

Francesca, Martin & Sarah

Monkeywood Theatre

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 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

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.com’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

We were joined for comedy, a love story and a pint on 3rd December in the studio….

‘Actually – I think I went to school with him you know.’

‘What – that one with the apron on?’

‘No you cheeky mare. The one with the pint.’

‘They’ve all got bloody pints.’

‘The one holding his pint, now, look.’

‘What him?’

‘No – not him. Oh he’s put it down now. He’s lovely.’

Robbie is out on his last night of freedom. Michelle is out on her last night in Manchester. Ten years ago they very nearly kissed…

Last Orders is about everything always being the same and nothing ever changing – and everything changing and nothing being the same ever again.

Monkeywood were formed in 2003 and have been producing plays in Manchester to great acclaim ever since.

Once in a House on Fire (Sept 2010 – Ongoing) by Monkeywood Theatre & Sarah McDonald Hughes

Monkeywood and their associate writer Sarah McDonald Hughes are currently developing Once in a House on Fire, based on Andrea Ashworth’s book, recipient of the 1999 Somerset Maugham award. The script will undergo a series of rehearsed readings and Script in Hand performances this Autumn, with a national tour planned for Spring & Autumn 2011.

Developed with The Lowry Studio, supported by Arts Council England and funded through grants for the arts, Once in a House on Fire is a compelling story set across South Manchester during the 1970s and 80s. It is an inspiring, vibrant, truthful and moving story of sisters, survival and growing up.

Mancunian Andrea Ashworth is delighted that Monkeywood are working on her story;

“I’m thrilled that Once in a House on Fire is being brought to life on the stage through the fabulous Monkeywood Theatre, and immensely proud that they’re devoting their unique talents and passion to sharing this story.  I can’t wait to see what they do…”

The script has been collaboratively written with young people from Xaverian Sixth Form College in Rusholme and Chorlton High School, which both feature in the original novel.

Last Orders (Jan 2011 & Dec 2009) by Sarah McDonald Hughes

Accepted by the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, to be part of their PUB season. The studio was turned into a functioning traditional English pub in November/December with Monkeywood performing on Thu 3 Dec, alongside ‘pub landlord’ James Quinn, in their favourite positions – at the bar!

In Jan 2011, Last Orders was selected for The Library Theatre’s Re:Play season, presented by The Contact.  The production was performed in a site-specific location at Jabez Clegg. Four performances completely sold out and it received 4 star reviews.

“The warm and funny script roots the play firmly in its Manchester location, providing a window onto an almost-love story that often occurs, but is rarely told.” Whatsonstage.com

“Beautifully written to celebrate and emphasise the Northern voice using easily accessible and recognisable dialect; Last Orders effortless captures the excitement of a night out – that final push in to adulthood and the emotions that can be brought to the surface when seeing an old flame.” Public Reviews

Maine Road (July 2009 – April 2010) by Sarah McDonald Hughes

July 2009: Directed by Martin Gibbons. Receiving 4 star reviews when it premiered at Manchester’s 24:7 Theatre Festival. Whatsonstage.com summed it up with 4 stars as… “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.”

Jan 2010: Sarah submitted the Maine Road script to 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. Following some redevelopment of the script the play was produced for BBC Radio 4, airing in January.

March – April 2010: The script underwent further redevelopment for a 2010 tour to The Lowry, Whitby Hall, Saltburn Community Theatre and Halifax Square Chapel. The tour was supported by Arts Council England with funding awarded through the Grants for the Arts initiative and Sarah’s rewriting was supported by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation. Maine Road sold out 3 performances at The Lowry 3 months in advance, before adding an extra matinee in the studio followed by an additional evening to première in the 450 seater Quays Theatre.

It was given 4 stars from Public Reviews, “My expectations for this play were high and after seeing Nedum Onuoha sat behind me and City fans turning up wearing scarves my excitement was probably higher… it is unique, sad, nostalgic, warm and occasionally funny, it is also about families and Manchester City which in my eyes makes it one of the finest pieces of theatre I have ever witnessed.”

A Song for the Lovers (2006 – 2008) by Sarah McDonald Hughes

July 2006: Debuted at Manchester’s 24:7 Theatre Festival.

Oct 2008: A redevised and rewritten production directed by Jo Fisher at The Lowry in Salford. Marking Sarah’s playwriting debut, it was given 5 stars by whatsonstage.com, described as “highly charged and engaging…packed with humour and pathos”, making their final list of top productions of 2008.

Coach G (May – June 2005) by Stephen Morris

Directed by Stephen Morris. Performed in Manchester at Taurus Bar, Chorlton Arts Festival and Studio Salford. “Hip… edgy and watchable… compelling and intriguing new play… well-served by a talented young cast.” – Manchester Evening News.

Closer (Oct 2003) by Patrick Marber

Directed by Steven Hobson. Performed in Platt Chapel, a 300 year old church building on Wilmslow Road, Manchester.

On Thursday October 30th and Friday October 31st 2003, Monkeywood presented Patrick Marber’s “Closer”, directed by Steven Hobson.

The venue was Platt Chapel (click for location), a 300 year old church building on Wilmslow Road, 5 minutes from Manchester City Centre. It’s the best venue you haven’t seen yet.

The play was a great success, both commercially and artistically. Monkeywood had arrived.

CAST:

Alice: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Anna: Zoe Rowden
Dan: Martin Gibbons
Larry: James Duncan Harris

Matthew Clarke is trapped on a train with a hitman, a femme fatale, a couple of smart-arses and a homicidal ticket collector. He can only leave on one condition: he gets his story straight. But which story should he tell? Coach G is a surreal, funny, brutal and surprising new play by Stephen Morris.

“Hip… edgy and watchable… compelling and intriguing new play… well-served by a talented young cast.” – Manchester Evening News

“The League of Gentlemen take control of the Trans-Pennine Express during rush hour.” – Manchester Metro

CAST:

Heidi: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Rabbit: Francesca Waite
Matthew: Martin Gibbons
The Conductor: James Duncan Harris

Timetable:

Coach G departed from Studio Salford, King’s Arms, Salford between Tues 21st – Sat 25th June 2005.

Previous stops:
JP Lounge, Taurus, Manchester. May 11th, 12th, 13th 2005
The Royal Oak, Chorlton. May 23rd and 24th 2005, as part of the Chorlton Arts Festival.

Read what the crits thought ]]> http://www.monkeywoodtheatre.co.uk/monkey/136/feed 0 http://www.monkeywoodtheatre.co.uk/monkey/15 http://www.monkeywoodtheatre.co.uk/monkey/15#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:13:20 +0000 admin http://www.stylegala.co.uk/new_site/?p=15 Davy’s never had a best mate before, so he’s not going to let anything come between him and Catie – especially not Jenna.

A Song for the Lovers is a funny, compelling story about an unlikely friendship and an impossible evening.

‘Monkeywood are described as an ‘emerging’ theatre company. If A Song for the Lovers is anything to go by, I would say that they have now arrived and I can only hope that they are here to stay. – 5 stars’ Whatsonstage.com

CAST:

Catie: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Jenna: Francesca Waite
Davy: Martin Gibbons

Location

A Song for the Lovers was performed at The Lowry, Salford Quays, Manchester from Thurs 9th – Sat 11th October 2008.
And as part of the 24:7 Theatre Festival in 2006