The Maddermarket Theatre is delighted to announce a new play based on Malcolm Bradbury’s hilarious, bestselling novel, The History Man, staged in collaboration with UEA. The production celebrates the 50th anniversary of Creative Writing at UEA and its MA co-founded by Malcolm Bradbury, and the centenary of the Maddermarket Theatre.

The play has been adapted by UEA alumna and former UEA Creative Writing lecturer, Antoinette Moses. ‘I wanted to adapt the novel after realising that while the novel was a brilliantly funny satire, there was a lot more to it. This is a story that speaks about twenty-first century issues, but it has never been staged. We managed to get permission from the Malcolm Bradbury Literary Estate and the agents Curtis Brown and they have been totally supportive of this production.’

The History Man is centred on an antihero, Howard Kirk, a predatory left-wing sociology lecturer, who, like a seventies’ Richard III, seduces all the women around him as he plots and schemes with reprehensible relish.

‘This is a play for today,’ says its director, Molly Harris Farley, a UEA alumna now teaching in UEA Drama. ‘What drew me to it is the way it reflects the power imbalances highlighted by the #MeToo movement. It doesn’t merely satirise the period with its student revolutionaries, it questions both sexual power against women and freedom of expression. It also has a lot to say about “cancel culture”. What I also love about the play is that the text offers a great deal in terms of interpretation and staging while the characters themselves are fully-realised and fantastically sharp.’

Antoinette Moses

The cast and crew are drawn from UEA students, alumnae and the Maddermarket and this, acknowledges UEA Drama lecturer Mike Bernardin, is very much the way forward. ‘UEA Drama is delighted to continue our collaboration with all the opportunities that such as Civic Partnership offers, both to our students and to the wider Norwich and Norfolk community.’

The play will run at the Maddermarket Theatre from 8 to 12 March and booking is now open. Tickets can be booked by calling the Box Office on 01603 620917 or by visiting the Maddermarket theatre’s website; www.maddermarket.co.uk