Our Gin and Jivers had a fantastic time at this month’s Gin and Jive event. We saw some familiar faces and lots of newbies joining us for the first time – some of whom hadn’t danced in over 20 years!
Thanks to AcademyNo1 and Rugby Distillery for their partnership with us at Macready Theatre, to bring a fun and friendly evening of gin-tasting and Jive-dancing to Rugby.
Check out our confirmed 2024 dates and click here to book.
Macready Theatre is recruiting for Front of House positions and Casual Technicians. See below for more information.
Macready Theatre are hiring Casual Technicians to join their team. For all information and to apply, click here.
Macready Theatre are hiring Front of House/Bar Staff to join their team. For all information and to apply, click here.
Half-term is nearly here, no fear! Macready Theatre to the rescue with three incredible shows for kids in the heart of Rugby.
A huge thank you goes to our friends at CEMEX, who for the past 5 years have shown Macready Theatre generous support that allows the team to create exciting opportunities for young people to be immersed in a theatre show.
Inspired by Helen Ward’s book ‘The Tin Forest’, Plastic Paradiso is an environmentally themed dance show for children focusing on resilience, friendship and plastic pollution.
“A magical performance on such an important topic”
“Great for kids”
“So engaging and exciting. We all loved it!”
Monday 30th October
11am | 2:30pm
Featuring puppetry, live music and unforgettable characters, including two animal enthusiasts who end up with a travelling sanctuary. Come and meet this eclectic group of animals as they discuss their life experiences and the challenges they face in a rapidly changing world dominated by humans.
“It was so inventive and fun and we learned lots”
“The animals look amazing and it was so heart warming/wrenching in equal measures”
“I cannot recommend this enough for kids and adults! Educational without trying, beautiful loveable characters”
Wednesday 1st November
2:30pm | 5:30pm
Carroll’s Wonderland floods onto the stage in a whirl of strange contraptions and curious characters. Follow Alice on her remarkable journey, from her fleeting encounters with the White Rabbit to her eventual showdown with the crazed Queen of Hearts. Featuring a dozen colourful handmade puppets, a beautiful set that unfolds from a vintage trunk and magical original music, this is a constantly inventive and refreshing take on Carroll’s classic.
“Loaded with charm… ingenious”
“Beautifully accomplished. As wonderful as any wonderland could be”
Friday 3rd November
2:30pm
Keep up to date with what’s on at Macready Theatre via our ticket site.
Vamos Theatre explores ADHD, community and connection in new
wordless production
Vamos Theatre, the UK’s leading mask theatre company has announced dates for its new production, Boy on the Roof, which will tour from Jan-March 2024.
Created through Community Conversations across the UK, gathering people’s personal experiences of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), loneliness, aging, hearing loss, connection and community, Vamos Theatre’s Boy on the Roof has been two years in the making and premieres as one of only eight commissioned companies at Mime London 2024 (1st-4th Feb), before setting off on a six-week tour.
Boy on the Roof is the story of an unlikely friendship between Liam, a teenage boy with ADHD, and his 91-year old neighbour, Albert. Performed without words, it features three of the best physical theatre and mask actors in the UK; Gavin Maxwell, a neurodivergent theatre-maker and movement director whose extensive body of work includes five years as a practitioner for Frantic Assembly; mask specialist James Greaves, whose seminal work with Trestle Theatre has taken him across the world and renowned mask performer Alan Riley, a founder member of Trestle Theatre.
With full face masks especially made for the show by Russell Dean of Strangeface, the production features a full-length score and sound design, innovative film projection and an inventive set. The production is accessible to deaf audiences without BSL interpretation.
Rachael Savage, writer and director of Boy on the Roof, comments, “This has been an incredibly exciting production to work on right from the off, thanks to everyone who helped shape it through telling us of their own experiences in our Community Conversations. We’re grateful to all the many people across the UK who have shared their experiences with us and helped us to understand many of the issues involved. Like all Vamos Theatre productions, the show highlights the importance of making connection, helping us all to better understand our shared humanity, and it seems fitting to announce this exciting new production during ADHD awareness month.
“We’re also lucky enough to be working with three fantastic mask performers who bring a wealth of experience and talent to the stage, and we’ve pushed ourselves much further in exploring ways film, sound and lighting tell stories and create worlds, and I think our audiences will be as excited as I am about how that works. We’re looking forward to getting feedback from our regular and new audiences.”
Arriving to Macready Theatre, Rugby Thursday 15th February 7:30pm
Book now
Macready Theatre have very exciting opportunities as we grow our programme.
The Macready Theatre is a professional 250-seat receiving venue which runs a professional programme alongside Rugby School’s academic and co-curricular Performing Arts activities.
We seek to appoint two enthusiastic and highly skilled Theatre & Performing Arts Technicians, with particular experience in lighting, sound and stage management to commence as soon as possible. The post-holder will be responsible for all aspects of the maintenance and operation of our theatrical equipment in Macready Theatre and venues across the Rugby School campus.
For more information and to apply: Please register and complete an application via Rugby School’s recruitment portal.
Closing date: 13 September 2023
Applications will be considered upon receipt and we reserve the right to make an appointment before the closing date. Therefore, an early application is strongly advised.
Macready Theatre is looking for a number of people to work with the Theatre Manager to ensure events run smoothly. These casual roles will include a mixture of bar work (serving drinks, facilitating interval drinks orders) as well as front of house duties (greeting audiences, checking tickets, showing people to their seats). Applicants must be aged 18 or over due to licensing laws.
For more information and to apply: Please register and complete an application via Rugby School’s recruitment portal.
Closing date: 11 September 2023
Applications will be considered upon receipt and we reserve the right to make an appointment before the closing date. Therefore, an early application is strongly advised.
A Thunder Road Theatre Production
Following a critically acclaimed, sold-out tour in 2022, Thunder Road Theatre are back on tour this Autumn with Shock Horror: their must-see ghost story.
Shock Horror takes audiences on a terrifying journey into childhood nightmares and being afraid of the dark. Described as Stranger Things meets The Woman in Black, this haunting, cutting-edge ghost story is the first of its kind to combine multi-media screen action with live stage performance.
Obsessed with finishing his life’s work, a horror fanatic returns home to a haunted cinema. As his mind unravels, painful memories begin to wake from the dead – but something else waits for him, something much worse.
Shock Horror tours to Macready Theatre, Rugby October 2023! For all ticket information click here.
The cast includes Alex Moran (War Horse, National Theatre; Quality Street UK Tour, Northern Broadsides) as Herbert, Chloe Proctor (Emmerdale, ITV; Doctors, BBC) as Norma, Joseph Carter as Jack (Hollyoaks, Channel Four; Yizkor, New Vic Theatre; 100 Years On, Everyman Theatre) and Chris Blackwood as Karras (Miss Julie, Gulbenkian Arts Centre; The Little
Mermaid, Kings Theatre).
Shock Horror is written by Yorkshire-based playwright and filmmaker, Ryan Simons (Eastenders, BBC; Emmerdale, ITV).
Alex Moran, producer and actor comments, The show has a much bigger team on board after last year’s success. Specialists in lighting, sound, and illusion; and a fantastic new set. It has evolved deliciously… more jumps, more scares, and more stand-out moments. I can’t wait to get started again.
Ryan Simons, writer and director comments, Shock Horror was inspired by a desire to create the next horror classic by bringing together our love of scary films and stage horror. We wanted a ghost show that had broad appeal, something that resonated with both teenagers and adults to entice the next generation into the theatre. We’ve created a unique experience
for a horror show by incorporating a cinema screen within the set design, films are carefully woven into the live action to create a blended performance that makes the play visual, captivating, and terrifying!
Previous Praise for Shock Horror:
★★★★★
Astonishing – Manchester Evening News
★★★★★
One hell of a show – Yorkshire Lifestyle
★★★★
Captivating… a must-see – The Reviews Hub
There is also a school show available for local secondary schools to attend. Please contact Amie info@macreadytheatre.co.uk/01788 556203 for all the information or to book.
Macready Theatre