|
News
|
|
|
News |
Dateline: 2nd December, 2001 Birmingham's Maverick Theatre Company Returns The Maverick Theatre Company are to start producing theatre in Birmingham again in the New Year, after a two yeat absence. The highly acclaimed, award-winning theatre company's last production was at the end of 1999. Working at the Billesley Pub in Birmingham, some 63% of their audience had never been to a theatre before attending a Maverick Pub show. Then, faced with a debt of only £3,000, founder and Artistic Director Nick Hennegan was forced to call time on Pub Theatre in order to clear the debt. There was some anger at the closure of the city's only regular pub theatre company, a petition to save Maverick and dozens of letters to the local press. But as Hennegan points out, the company didn't close, it just 'rested', giving him time to consolidate the finances. Now Maverick is back, bigger and bolder than ever, with some major improvements. The company is shifting its base from the Billesley Pub to become the resident company at the Birmingham Library Theatre in Birmingham City Centre. There will be four full theatrical productions per year. Maverick wants to launch a Citizens Theatre Season. For the first time the company will be producing a Christmas Panto and touring nationally. It is looking for a London partner. The first production will be the Willy Russell classic, Shirley Valentine, directed by Hennegan himself. Nick Hennegan says, "Shirley Valentine is about a woman who wants to move on and expand her horizons. And that's exactly what Maverick is doing now. Being in the city centre makes us more accessible to more of the city and the region. And the Library Theatre is one of the best little theatre spaces in town, even though it's relatively unknown. It's friendly, intimate and a bit quirky! Just like Maverick! The Birmingham Library staff have been very supportive." And Pub Theatre? "I really want to keep that part of our work going, but it needs financial help. I'm seeing a brewery at the end of this month. I'd really like to do a regional tour of pubs, but its one step at a time!"
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
|
|
|