Maddermarket Theatre

The theatre was originally built as a Roman Catholic chapel in the late 18th century by priests living in a tenement at Strangers' Hall.

The building was quickly converted by the Guild of Norwich Players from a state of near-dereliction into an Elizabethan style playhouse.

Monck founded the Norwich Players, an amateur dramatic society, in the early years of the Twentieth Century.

In the 1960s the Medieval buildings flanking the front 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 covered over the years and the permanent half-timbered set was often covered-over with conventional scenic flats.

When Dave Harris became Artistic Director, he asked if it were possible to re-construct the stage giving it the thrust as was intended by Monck in the 1920s.

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-arranging the seating in the front stalls.

Removal of unnecessary gangways has allowed the stage to be greatly enlarged without any loss of stalls seats (in fact they gained an extra wheelchair position).

All the new work was done to match the 1920s Tudor style of the rest of the original theatre, which is a Grade II 'listed' building.