The Maddermarket Theatre opened in 1921 and was the first permanent recreation of an Elizabethan Theatre. The founder was Nugent Monck who had worked with William Poel. Poel was the first to restore Shakespeare's plays with the full text and to play them in the Elizabethan style with-out elaborate scenery.

Monck founded the Norwich Players, an amateur dramatic society, in the early years of this century. They first performed in his house, then at the Music House in King Street. Their success led to him purchasing an eighteenth centaury former Catholic chapel in St John Maddermarket in Norwich, which was converted into the Maddermarket Theatre in 1921. It was intended to build a thrust stage but the dimensions of the building and lack of funds resulted in an end-stage being constructed instead. The original form of the building was a rectangular space 40 feet wide by 30 feet long with a gallery running around three sides. The ceiling was in the form of a plaster barrel-vault which gave the building its remarkable acoustic properties.


The stage occupied nearly half the space. A pillared canopy was constructed from which to hang the painted curtains, which Monck used to effect very rapid scene changes. There was a gallery to the rear of the stage and two entrance doors either side or the stage, the two downstage ones being under the side galleries.

The first dressing rooms were on the side galleries but additional properties were purchased adjacent to the theatre and the men's dressing rooms and green room are now in a former school adjacent to the theatre. The ladies' dressing room is in Strangers' Hall museum at the back of the theatre.

Over the years tip-up seats have replaced loose chairs. The pillars that supported the side galleries were removed in the 1950's and the curved gallery was re-built straight, to accommodate the new supporting girder. At that time the back wall of the stalls was removed and the auditorium extended back to allow the stalls to accommodate another four rows of seats.

In the 1960's the Medieval buildings flanking the rear of the theatre were demolished and a new foyer, bar, toilets, rehearsal room and box office were constructed in a very brutal "modern" style. Many of the Elizabethan details were lost over the years and the permanent half-timbered set was covered-over with conventional scenic flats.

When Dave Harris became Artistic Director, he asked me if it was possible to re-construct the stage giving it the thrust as was intended by Monk in the 1920's. This not only involved adding-on an extra seven feet of stage in the form of a half hexagon but also rebuilding the gallery and re-arraigning the seating in the front stalls.
Despite pessimistic predictions of a great loss of seats only ten seats at the rear of the gallery have been lost. Removal of unnecessary gangways has allowed the stage to be greatly enlarged without any loss of stalls seats (in fact we gained an extra wheelchair position).


The gallery has been reconstructed with a steeper rake and with the original curved tiers re-created. The 1930's cinema seats have been retained in all parts of the 'house'. The new total seating capacity is 310.

All the new work was done to match the 1920's Tudor style of the rest of the original theatre, which is a Grade II 'listed' building. The opportunity was taken to replace the 1960's house-lights with lanterns in order to look more in keeping with the rest of the decor. New FOH lighting positions have been provided and new cable-runs have been concealed in the new floors. The Council's City Works Department built the stage and a seating contractor moved the seats. All other work was done in house.


All the work was done between productions and during a summer closure of approximately six weeks and the total cost was about £10,000. During the autumn, the original permanent set was restored and was first used for a production of Bartholomew Fair, when one of the original Monck painted curtains was used again.

The Madderrnarket Theatre is now staging more performances than at any time in its history. It iis also used as a venue for professional tours and concerts.

John West