What We Do
The main aim of Mad Dogs Theatre Company is to produce new, exciting and engaging theatre. To this end we draw on years of experience devising, writing and collaborating with a range of talented theatre practitioners.
Our most recent project.
In 2009 we revived Casualties, half of a double-bill originally commissioned by Mad Dogs and premiered in Sheffield in 1999. The play was written by Richard Hurford, Writer-in-Residence for Pilot Theatre Company and Associate Writer with Sheffield Theatres. The revival was redirected by Greg Banks, one of the founder members of Dr. Foster’s Theatre Company and director of numerous productions around the UK and further afield-most recently Romeo and Juliet in Minneappolis.
Casualties is a bitter-sweet tale of two lost souls who rediscover each other 25 years after their initial meeting, both seemingly washed up and beached on the farthest shores of love. Could this be a second chance?
Below is a review of the play from www.fringereview.co.uk.
‘This is a revival of a play about the revival of a “relationship”. Mad Dogs bring Richard Hurford’s one act play to the Pavilion stage with much skill and some excellent timing. In fact this is a masterclass in pacing and timing in a play that is full of subtlety and emotional undertones. We sense a suppressed longing in the two characters, played with a naturalistic yet emotionally strong interpretation by Owen Aaronovitch and Fiona Bruce.
This is a production where the silences are as important as the spoken words, where the looks are as important as any grander physical gestures. It’s all staged with an economy of direction that works very effectively creating a mood of intensity that kept the audience engaged throughout.
There’s a lot of warmth in both writing and performances, and this was brought out well by both actors without losing the more sober theme of “unfinished business” at the heart of this play.
Overall, this is a play well worth seeing, and I hope it goes on to tour. An impressive revival from a highly accomplished pair of actors in a thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended play.’
Other Activities
Mad Dogs can also provide theatre-related activities in a range of situations. The company has pioneered the use of interactive theatre in the context of teaching English as a foreign language-see the following testimonial from the University of Sheffield ELT Centre.
‘The students who attended the workshop were fully engaged with the process and were clearly excited by having live professional theatre brought to them. In the interactive workshop which accompanied the piece, the students were invited to question the characters and give them advice. Despite any inhibitions they might have had initially, the students were so drawn in by the characters’ dilemmas they felt compelled to talk to them! The workpack was extremely useful and well thought out as to the needs of both teachers and students. Clearly the company have a lot of experience in this area and presented the whole package with great professionalism. I would thoroughly recommend the company’s work to other EFL centres and colleges.’
University of Sheffield ELT Centre
The company can also offer a variety of theatre workshops to schools and colleges, whether related to areas of the curriculum such as set texts or as enrichment activities, and we can design workshops according to need .