mac Theatre is The Maldon Actors Company.

It was originally formed in 1995 by Barrie Jaimeson and Nicola Esson, two professional actors recently moved to the area.
The first production was an adaptation of ‘The Chimes’, a Christmas story by Charles Dickens. A professional cast of fourteen performed over the Christmas period in Maldon and in the New Year in London.
The production was very well received and mac were asked by Maldon District Council to produce some educational work for local primary schools. Mac were joined by local artist Harvey Thorne and drama therapist Tara Wood and in the summer of 1996 a number of workshops took place in the Promenade Park, Maldon, for all the local primary schools. Involving art and drama, the children studied life in Viking Maldon and devised an episode of a Viking soap-opera called ‘NorseEnders’. This was professionally filmed and produced on videotape by mac Theatre.
In early 1997, a joint Lottery application by Maldon district Council and The Plume School towards creating an Arts Centre in Maldon was being considered. As part of the feasibility study, mac theatre devised and produced an entertainment intended to show the different aspects of the Arts such a centre could realise. A professional cast of six toured local villages with a production called ‘Curtain Raiser’. The show featured scenes from thrillers, musicals, magic shows, straight plays, Shakespeare, rock music, a twenty minute version of the film Casablanca and even some local youngsters being The Spice Girls!
Other work commitments and breeding children meant that mac Theatre lay dormant for the next few years but in 2002 Maldon Town Council were looking for ideas to help celebrate the 400th Anniversary of William Shakespeare’s visit to Maldon with his King’s Players in 1603. Having performed professionally in The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London, Barrie Jaimeson had always felt that the Promenade Park in Maldon provided an ideal amphitheatre and would be a more than suitable place for an outdoor production of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

 

A number of events were planned for the ‘Shakespeare Festival’, the main event being a Community Production of ‘A Midsummer night’s Dream’ in the park. mac wanted to encourage local people to get involved and early in 2003 numerous people from the district of Maldon attended auditions, some were members of local Amateur Dramatic Societies, some had never set foot on stage before and by March, a large and enthusiastic group of ‘rude mechanicals’ assembled for rehearsals.
The concept of the production was to show that Shakespeare is relevant to today and, above all, fun. The production was set in modern dress, with ‘punky’ fairies and a ‘New labour’ court. The sun shone and picnicking audiences enjoyed the antics of Bottom and his pals, Puck and Oberon and confused lovers.
The play was so well received that mac Theatre were asked to produce another Shakespeare in the Park the following summer. mac decided to try and raise more funding for this show and succeeded in winning awards from The Maldon Community Fund and the National lottery Awards for All scheme, Maldon District Council and The plume School.

In March 2004 mac Theatre became an official non-profit making organisation with a constitution and rules. A committee was formed and it was decided to produce a Community ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ Production of ‘Twelfth Night’ for the summer.
The production was set in the 1930’s and featured period costumes and Shakespeare’s songs set to jazz music. Again the response was magnificent both from cast and audience. It was becoming obvious that the Shakespeare in the Park Community play was to become an Annual event.

 

 

 

 

Mac theatre still wanted to produce some professional theatre and in October 2004 acquired The Bewick Room at The Swan hotel in Maldon for a special Halloween show entitled ‘The Hooded Monk Presents..’. This was an adaptation of four gothic horror stories linked with poetry and prose by the likes of Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Browning. The cast consisted of a mixture of Community players and professional actors drawn from the West End and Television. It was a sell-out.

 

      
Inspired by the response mac Theatre intends to produce more professional theatre in Maldon as well as the annual ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ and in may 2005 devised and performed ‘When They Sound the Last All-Clear’ – to commemorate

‘VE’ day. Comprising of a collection of true wartime memories of local people and places interjected with songs and anecdotes from the era and portrayed by two local professional actors. This was very well received on both nights it played in the Bewick Room at the Swan Hotel, Maldon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The summer of 2005 saw the production, ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ set at the turn of the 16th/17th Centuries, complete with Elizabethan costume and music. As well as playing in the promenade Park at the end of June, this production also played in the grounds of Edwin’s Hall, an Elizabethan house near South Woodham Ferrars in early July.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 2005 saw macYouth theatre up and running. The young peoples theatre group affiliated to mactheatre but encouraging young, local talent to get together and give a voice to their interests by doing theatrical productions whilst acquiring technical skills in voice and movement. The inaugral production of the macYouth Theatre was in may 2006 with a production of ‘Daisy Pulls It Off’ again in the Bewick Room.

 

 

Following the redevelopment of Promenade Park and the addition of a newly built amphitheatre the now annual 'Shakespeare in the Park' seemed appropriate to christen the new space with the production of ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. Keeping in Elizabethean dress as Edwins Hall had requested we perform there again due to last year’s success. This year had an overwhelming response in the new central venue with a little help from a glorious summer, playing to packed houses and building quite a reputation locally.

 

 

macYouth followed the summer’s events with a production of ‘Grimm Tales’ an adaptation of the original fairytales in all their brutality which played over two nights the week before christmas! Quite madness but again very well received and filling the group with great enthusiasm for future shows.