[6] In 2005 Adam moved to the UK, and attended London's Central School of Speech and Drama before making his London directing debut at White Bear Theatre, directing three critically successful shows as the theatre's Associate Director, including the two world premieres The Ides of March[7] by Duncan Ley and Studies for a Portrait[8] by Daniel Reitz.
[12] Further 2010 directing work included the UK premiere of Hannie Rayson's landmark Australian play Hotel Sorrento,[13] the rarely revived first play of Peter Gill's The Sleepers Den,[14] the world premiere of Edward Bond's There Will Be More,[15] and ended 2010 with his operatic directing debut in a new version of "Madama Butterfly" retitled "Bangkok Butterfly", which he adapted into English for OperaUpClose.
[28][29] December 2009 saw Spreadbury-Maher form OperaUpClose with the aim of bringing opera to a wider audience by producing new, classic and difficult pieces which have so far been neglected or previously inaccessible.
[32] Spreadbury-Maher appointed OperaUpClose his resident company when he took over as Artistic Director of the King's Head Theatre in 2010, producing regularly from the Islington base, including a landmark production of Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea directed in a new version by Mark Ravenhill with additional musical material by Michael Nyman; the production was awarded five-stars by London's Evening Standard and starred Rebecca Caine.
[33] Spreadbury-Maher directed new productions of A Masked Ball and Tosca for OperaUpClose (in his own new English versions) the latter in a co-production with Malmö Opera, which transferred to London's Soho Theatre.
The 50-seat theatre was set up as an experiment to demonstrate that actors could be paid in smaller fringe spaces,[36] and was the first off-West End venue to open with an Equity agreement.
[38] His last production as Artistic Director was the world premiere of Joe Orton's first play Fred & Madge, directed by his former assistant and protege Mary Franklin.