Macready comes to the Macready Theatre

Mark Stratford as William Macready. Photo by Martin Smith.

Macready! Dickens’ Theatrical Friend, written and performed by Mark Stratford of Stratford Productions, running at Macready Theatre, Lawrence Sheriff Street, Rugby, CV22 5EJ, on Tuesday 29 July at 7.30pm.

Preview

The great Victorian actor, William Macready - the man who gave his name to the Macready Theatre - is coming to grace its stage once more!

Take your seats for one night only on Tuesday 29 July to watch the fascinating story of the man to whom his best friend Charles Dickens dedicated Nicholas Nickleby. He will be brought to life by actor Mark Stratford in the highly acclaimed show Macready! Dickens’ Theatrical Friend currently touring the UK.

With passion, humour, emotion, and an array of characters and anecdotes, Stratford will take his audience on a journey through the sheer graft, tribulations and joys of Macready’s life, and the fascinating world of Victorian theatre.

The Macready Theatre sits within Rugby School where, in 1803, Macready began his formative years as a pupil. Life had begun well for him. The prestigious Rugby School was intended to be a springboard for him to go to Oxford and study law. But, alas, when his father’s theatrical empire collapsed and he was imprisoned for bankruptcy, Macready was forced to leave the school and help with the family business. He was just sixteen.

Mark Stratford as William Macready who Macready Theatre is named after.

Although still a boy, he took charge of a shambolic company of players still in his father’s service at Chester. Young William had shown early promise as a performer at school and before long he somehow managed to knock the troubled troupe in to shape. Debts were cleared, salaries were paid and the company moved on to the next theatre!

 And when his father was released from prison, he cast his son as Romeo and the rest, as they say, is history.

 The show is a labour of love for Mark Stratford who became intrigued by Macready’s story when he read his diaries a few years ago. “He is not as well-known as the likes of Edmund Kean and Henry Irving, famous actors whose careers overlapped with Macready’s at each end of the 19th century,” explains Stratford, “but his story is of such importance and interest, I feel driven to tell it.”

Actor and writer Mark Stratford set up Stratford Productions in 2019 to produce and tour his solo plays. At present these are: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (adapted from the novella of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson) and Macready! Dickens’ Theatrical Friend (which tells the fascinating story of the great 19th Century actor-manager, Macready).

Both shows are currently being staged at various venues around the UK until the summer of 2026. As an actor Mark has appeared in West End shows, national and foreign tours, repertory seasons and pantomimes, as well as small parts in Film, TV and Radio.  

Ticket Prices: £12 (full), £10 (concessions) [Booking fees apply] For tickets: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/rugby-arts