Pictured above: Merchant of Venice 1955

The MADC is thrilled to announce that its annual Shakespeare production will be taking place this summer after all and will be returning to its traditional setting, the beautiful San Anton Gardens.

The MADC have been staging open air Shakepseare productions at San Anton Gardens since 1938, only stopping for a few years due to the second world war.

Unfortunately, a few years back the rental fee of the gardens shot up it therefore became unfeasible to host the production in its traditional – but now, following intervention from APAP, the Association for the Performing Arts Practitioners, namely its chairman, Edward Mercieca, and assistance from the Ministry of Culture, in particular the Honorable Minister Mario Demarco, this well-loved part of the MADC’s season is now returning to its original venue.

It is with great joy that MADC can announce that come July the club will revive this 75 year old tradition, returning to its home at San Anton Garden’s with The Winter’s Tale directed by Polly March.

Hamlet 1999

As the oldest active Drama Club in Malta, MADC is proud that it continues to perform the works of the greatest writer of the English language, in his native tongue for theatre lovers in Malta.  Other European countries have had to translate these plays for their wider appreciation.  Along with the UK, Malta must be the only European country producing the works of the Bard in English on a yearly basis, and played out in this idyllic wooded crescent built in 17^th century.

As an amateur Club, MADC devotes all it energy and resources to the production of a broad cross section of theatrical works. Revenue generated from the more popular productions like the annual MADC Pantomime at Ta’ Qali, is reinvested in other loss making performances like Shakespeare at San Anton. Staging an outdoor production is always very expensive compared to being in a theatre.

With costs constantly soaring plus a positive increase in cultural activities in Malta, it is the unstinting dedication and drive of the active members of the Club that have kept MADC alive, a legacy inherited from the founders in 1910 and furthered by subsequent Maltese management Committees. It is the same spirit that made MADC the spring board for so many successful actors and directors on the local stage.

This year’s production of Shakespeare at San Anton Gardens that will run between the 25 – 29 July, promises to be an interesting one, and not to be missed.

Tickets at 18 euro will be available on-line at www.madc.biz or by phone on 79796232 from the 1 July onwards. There’s a discount of €5 for children and students.  Further details are available at www.madc.biz

Love's Labour Lost 1966

Julius Caesar 1988