The Maverick Theatre Company is all about having a great 'classic' night out!

Maverick created professional pub theatre in Birmingham, England throughout the nineties and attracted huge new audiences to theatre. We're now working on three main UK wide projects -

  • The Maverick 'People's Companies', where top professionals create plays and musicals in local communities with a supportive mix of professional and amateur performers, artists and technicians.
  • Maverick's 'Pocket Classics' where audiences can thrill from the experience of some of the great English classics in an accessible, affordable way, through small-scale productions with large-scale effects and production values!
  • 'Maverick Hubs' - a series of accessible, working-class originated comedies and dramas.

The Pocket Classics so far include; the Edinburgh Festival hits, Shakespeare's Henry V - Lion of England, Hamlet - Horatio's Tale , Romeo & Juliet F.C. and Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol (with Guy Masterson for Theatre Tours International)  To come soon are Richard III; Macbeth;  Tess of the D'Urbervilles; Sherlock Holmes Jnr, ;Dracula  and Frankenstein.




Maverick is an award-winning company.

"This will surely dispel the spirit of schoolroom Shakespeare for good"  B'ham Mail

"The arrows whoosh up, and you freeze inside!"  B'ham Post

"A remarkable production.  A tour de force."    Edinburgh Fringe News

"Perfectly turns the tables at the end.  Highly recommended." Edinburgh List

(Reviews for 'Henry V - Lion of England', by Nick Hennegan)

2023 Manifesto

 

The Maverick Theatre Company Manifesto for 2023/4 ish.


In its 27th year of operation, Maverick will use the synergy of the celebration to create an ambitious programme of work on the theme -

MOVING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK.


Activities will include -

TheLondon PEOPLE'S THEATRE COMPANY - a repeat of our successful Birmingham concept - this time in London. See the Peoples Company page here.

Urban Writers retreats. New writers, creating in venues and areas where the greats of old worked. DONE

The Literary Pub Crawls. New talent introducing new audiences to classic literature. With the informality of the pub.  DONE


189 Pieces - A new play about the 2,000-year-old Portland Vase. Performed at the British Museum!  DONE


P.A.L.S. at Edinburgh - arguably Maverick’s most successful production, it looks back at four children and their families, growing up in Birmingham from the 1950's to the 'noughties'. DONE

AirPlayScript.com finding new writers for Radio.  DONE

Rav & Juliet. The story of two star-crossed publicans. Using some characters from PALS, now living and working in the big city. This will be improvised from an outline and scenes.

A Christmas Carol.  A new one-person version of the Dickens classic, recreating his first reading at the Town Hall in Birmingham, with the legendary actor, Guy Masterson.  DONE

The Roarin' Boys.  A new play about the life of the Welsh roarin' boy, Dylan Thomas. Started!

Henry V - Lion of England. The critically acclaimed play that gave rise to the start of Maverick, performed in Birmingham, Stratford-on-Avon  and London.  DONE

And its follow up, Hamlet - Horatio's Tale with Sir Derek Jacobi. DONE

Dracula - a new, digital music and dramatic retelling of Bram Stockers classic diary-style novel.

TheTheatre.biz / www.CreativeProducers.Club - a new website and resource for theatre-makers and practitioners. DONE

Maverick New Media - we are exploring apps and publishing, including...

The MaverBook - How To Make A Crises Out Of a Drama.
Based on the 1997 production diary of Nick Hennegan which looks at three months of life preparing for the award-winning new play A Ghost of A Chance, this will also include anecdotes from writers, actors and audiences over Maverick's 20 years. It will also be published as an e-book and an audiobook.  DONE

Confessions of a Butcher Boy - the memoir of local Birmingham businessman and butcher, Norman Raybone. DONE   Now on Amazon and here!

BirminghamStories.com. A chance for ordinary people to tell their stories and show how extraordinary we all are!  STARTED!  

Soho Stories.  As above, but in London. 

And Forgotten Fleet Street. Celebrating a unique area before its memory disappears!

Walking Forward, Looking Back - Maverick Artistic Director Nick Hennegan will attempt to recreate the life of the original traveling theatre troubadours by walking from Birmingham to London with no money and just the works of Shakespeare to busk with.  And, of course, ye olde mobile phone to record the experience and blog live.   NOT YET DONE...! NICK'S A BIT SCARED!

Any comments?  Can you help? Would you like to get involved? Fundraising?

Please email forward@mavericktheatre.co.uk or leave a comment below.

Copyright The Maverick Theatre Company