'Shakespeare in the Park'
This is mac Theatre's flagship community production.
Every January an ever growing group of local people come together to rehearse a play to be performed in the open-air.
The inaugural production was a modern-dress version of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in 2003 to commemorate William Shakespeare's visit to the town of Maldon with his company 'The King's Men' four hundred years earlier in 1603.
Barrie Jaimeson, a veteran of the famous open-air Theatre in Regent's Park, had wanted to produce a Shakespeare play in the local Promenade Park for many years and this seemed an ideal opportunity.
In association with Maldon Town Council and Maldon District Council, Barrie expanded the already existing professional company, mac Theatre, to include a community company consisting of local people. The only qualification needed was
(and still is) enthusiasm and commitment. The idea was to amalgamate all the people who wanted to get involved in acting without having to join a 'Drama Group'. The productions are rehearsed from January through to the end of June and then performed publicly for three or four nights. Although the production is professionally produced, all the backstage and onstage work is done by local people on a completely voluntary basis. This is 'Theatre for the Community by the Community'
The Dream was so well received that mac Theatre was asked to do another production the following year. mac decided to take more control over the production and formed a non-profit making organisation that raised their own funding and, still with the help of Maldon District Council, produced 'Twelfth Night' set in the 1930's.
In 2005 mac were asked to perform in the grounds of a local Elizabethan house, Edwin's Hall, as a charity event to raise money for the local church, so after a rather damp three days in the Promenade Park, mac upped ship and took 'All's Well That Ends Well' off to Edwin's. Edwin's Hall was once the home of Edwin Sandys - who was archbishop of both York and Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth 1. In view of this it was decided that All's Well should be costumed in Elizabethan dress, and the sight of a dozen or so people wandering round Edwin's Hall's grounds in Elizabethan clothes, certainly produced an historical atmosphere.
2006 saw a purpose-built Amphitheatre constructed in Maldon's Promenade Park and opened the venue with a production of
'The Taming of the Shrew' which was presented in an amalgamation of modern and Elizabethan costumes. A glorious summer helped to see us break all box-office records. We then moved on the Edwin's Hall again to repeat the success of the previous year.
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By
William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is mac Theatre’s Fifth Community ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ Production
Following last year’s successful opening of the Amphitheatre in the Promenade Park with ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, this years’ production will take place at the same venue between the 21st June & the 23rd June 2007.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy written sometime in the late-1500s. It portrays the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors in a moonlit forest, and their interactions with the fairies who inhabit it and the Duke of Athens. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular and is widely performed across the world.
There was a Dream Prize donated by The Royal Shakespeare Company of two tickets to the first night of 'Twelfth Night'
at Stratford upon Avon's Courtyard Theatre
The Dream Prize, drawn after Saturday's rain-soaked performance was Mrs. Braxstead of Maldon. The second prize of a family ticket to Mary Arden's House in Stratfoed-upon-Avon was won by Andrea Williams of Maldon. Our thanks to The Royal Shakespeare Company and The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for donating the prizes and all the people who bought ticket helping to raise £175 towards the cost of the production
In 2007 the committee decided to celebrate every fifth year of productions by returning to 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
Whereas in 2003 there was a cast of 12, 2007 saw 21 actors treading the boards (or slabs) of the Amphitheatre which shows how much this now Annual venture has grown over the last five years.
2008 Production of
was performed on June 26th - 28th 2008
This production has been sponsored by:
The Foundation for Sport and the Arts
Essex County Council Chairman's Fund
which is managed by Essex Community Foundation
Maldon District Council
The Swan Hotel, Maldon
Farmer's Ales
This production was part of the First Maldon Festival of Arts
(See links to our friends, Left)
Macbeth is among the best-known of William Shakespeare's plays, and is his shortest tragedy. Often regarded as archetypal, the play tells of the dangers of the lust for power and the betrayal of friends. For the plot Shakespeare drew loosely on the historical account of King Macbeth of Scotland by Raphael Holinshed and that by the Scottish philosopher Hector Boece. There are many superstitions centred on the belief the play is somehow "cursed", and many actors will not mention the name of the play aloud, referring to it instead as "the Scottish play".
While many today would simply chalk up any misfortune surrounding a production to coincidence, actors and other theatre people often consider it bad luck to mention Macbeth by name while inside a theatre, and usually refer to it superstitiously as The Scottish Play, "MacBee," or when referencing the character rather than the play, "Mr. and Mrs M", "The Scottish King", or sometimes
"MacWhat's-his-face".
This is because Shakespeare is said to have used the spells of real witches in his text, purportedly angering the witches and causing them to curse the play. Thus, to say the name of the play inside a theatre is believed to doom the production to failure, and perhaps cause physical injury or worse to cast members. A large mythology has built up surrounding this superstition, with countless stories of accidents, misfortunes and even deaths, all mysteriously taking place during runs of Macbeth
(or by actors who had uttered the name).
Several methods exist to dispel the curse, depending on the actor. One is to immediately leave the building the stage is in with the person who uttered the name, walk around it three times, spit over their left shoulders, say an obscenity then wait to be invited back into the building. Another popular "ritual" is to leave the room, knock three times, be invited in, and then quote a line from Hamlet.
Yet another is to recite one of Shylock's monologues from The Merchant of Venice.
mac Theatre's production took place in the Amphitheatre in Maldon's Promenade Park from
June 26th - 28th 2008
WANT TO BE IN NEXT YEAR'S SHOW?
Auditions are held in every January/February
Auditions are open to anyone who has commitment and enthusiasm and lives in
(or near) the District of Maldon.
rehearsals take place in Maldon from January to June
No experience is necessary and all parts are cast from the auditions - no-one in the company has a 'right' to a part.
We always need people to help backstage as well as with fundraising and marketing
Contact us using the contacts page of this web-site