The Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich.

Norwich has a number of superb theatres that are not only hubs of social activity and entertainment, but valued places of community history. The Maddermarket shines amongst these as a wonderful space with a fascinating past.

The Maddermarket Theatre is located in St. John's Alley in Norwich, Norfolk. It was founded in 1921 by Nugent Monck.The Maddermarket Theatre opened in 1921 and was the first permanent recreation of an Elizabethan Theatre. Today it is an amateur theatre insomuch as actors are not paid to perform, however it has some employed members as well as acting as a receiving house for professional companies. It is a superb space (I have performed there three times with visiting company Baroque Theatre, as Rupert in 'Kindly Leave the Stage', Sherlock Holmes and as Dr. Montague in 'The Haunting of Hill House.). The acoustics are some of the best I have ever experienced, and one does get a real sense of the other world there, as if all the ghosts of past shows somehow remain to watch as you perform.
Productions run throughout the year and the set and costumes are superb. They also welcome volunteers as front of house staff and as actors for their in house productions. Contact them via: Maddermarket

The following from Wikipedia: 

Monck founded the Norwich Players, an amateur dramatic society, in the early years of the Twentieth Century. They first performed in his house, then at the Music House in King Street. Their success led to him purchasing an eighteenth-century former Catholic chapel in St John Maddermarket in Norwich, which was converted into the Maddermarket Theatre in 1921. The conversion took six weeks to complete with actors rehearsing and then helping to decorate it. 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. 

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. The site was overgrown with madder plants, some of which were donated to Strangers Hall medieval gardens, who in turn gifted the Theatre its very own madder plant in 2007. 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. 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 they gained an extra wheelchair position).

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

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. The opportunity was taken to replace the 1960s house-lights with lanterns in order to look more in keeping with the rest of the decor. New front of house 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.