Ed Madden

WELCOME TO PEMFORT

Soho Theatre

by Sarah Power

Cast: Sean Delaney, Debra Gillett, Ali Hadji-Heshmati, Lydia Larson

"Power's shattering new play uses a living history event to grapple with the stories we tell about - and to - ourselves, and question what happens when the past cannot be shaken off... Madden lets the scripts silences sit, laying out the revelations and their consequences and waiting as we make our minds up about them." - The Guardian

"Madden has a strong track record for stewarding thrilling new work, and this is no exception. His sensitive production features four excellent performances... This may not be the play I thought I was getting, but it’s certainly one I won’t soon forget." - WhatsOnStage

"Madden's production is nuanced and sensitive... On the surface Welcome to Pemfort is a a naturalistic drama about quirky rural folks. And it's a good example of that! But scratch that surface and it's got a core of steel - an unflinching look at the human condition that's only cosplaying as cute." - Time Out

"The nerdy atmosphere is brilliantly and subtly evoked in Madden's wonderful production, and the script by Sarah Power is full of deft, realistic touches... The writer and the director are destined to hit the heights." - The Spectator

THE HABITS

Hampstead Theatre

by Jack Bradfield

Cast: Debra Baker, Jamie Bisping, Sara Hazemi, Ruby Stokes, Paul Thornley

"Never having played Dungeons & Dragons, I can't vouch for the accuracy of Jack Bradfield's play... But it's genuinely entertaining... The performances are superb too. The characters don extravagant costumes towards the end, but long before that Ed Madden's tightly drilled production has presented us with the tics and grievances of a group who find meaning in stories governed by flights of imagination and rolls of the dice." - The Times

"Madden’s excellent production is both entertaining and gripping, proving how acting, as well as game-playing, is a collective activity. On designer Alys Whitehead’s table-and-chairs set, where Laura Howard’s lighting and Max Pappenheim’s cinematic music evoke steep mountain sides and deep caverns, the actors reign supreme... The result is a funny, tender and quietly inspiring evening. I left the theatre imagining other ways of life." - Arts Desk

"The production has incredible timing - both comic and dramatic... It's just bloody good theatre" - Broadway World

COSI FAN TUTTE

Da Ponte Festival

Music by Mozart
Libretto by Da Ponte

THIS MIGHT NOT BE IT

Bush Theatre

by Sophia Chetin-Leuner

Cast: Denzel Baidoo, Debra Baker, and Dolly Webb

"Set against the backdrop of the UK's deepening mental health crisis, this timely character piece focuses on the resilient, exhausted workers keeping our underfunded NHS functioning... Madden's measured staging handles the play's serious subject matter with finesse, while teasing out every bit of its dry gallows humour." - The Stage

"The relationship between [Angela, played by Debra Baker] and Denzel Baidoo's naive, hot headed, increasingly-disillusioned Jay is beautifully drawn in Ed Madden's subtly directed production. Each tentative step they take towards each other is observed with a quiet, touching truth." - The Telegraph

"The setting is an NHS mental health clinic, but the beauty of this piece is that it speaks in a universal language about the way people find ways of co-existing in an office where space is tight and time is short. Small gestures are magnificed, resentments fester." - The Times

THE LIMIT

Royal Opera House, Linbury Theatre

Adapted from Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons
Choreography by Kristen McNally
Music by Isobel Waller-Bridge
Text by Sam Steiner

* Nominated for the National Dance Award for Best Modern Choreography

"Beg, steal and borrow to get a ticket... The manner in which the movement and text interpreted and interpenetrated one another was itself a revelation. I have never before witnessed anything of that kind and at that level of intensity." - Dance Europe

"Sam Steiner's play, set in a world of rationed speech, lends itself to movement, and the dancers here also retain the dialogue, fusing the forms with quiet grace" - The Guardian

"A deft, witty staging." - Independent

"Dialogue, dance and music fuse effortlessly as the couple ride the changes in life and love... Hayward and Campbell as you have never seen them... A super 70 minutes of theatre, dance theatre, call it what you will" - Seeing Dance

OCTOPOLIS

Hampstead Theatre

by Marek Horn

Cast: Jemma Redgrave, Ewan Miller

"Ed Madden's superb production is sensitive to both the thrilling ideas and shifting emotions of the play." - The Arts Desk

"Marek Horn's brilliant, intellectually demanding play... Madden's production is energised... Redgrave fascinates as the bereaved academic, Miller brings fierce intelligence to his role." - The Mail

"Horn's cerebral writing is fascinating to listen to... An engrossing night with some superbly observed performances from Redgrave and Miller." - WhatsOnStage

"It can be funny, touching, and surprising, but fascination, here, is the priority... Madden directs the piece with an intellectual creativity, turning a very on-the-page script into something living and breathing." - Broadway World

"Where better than Hampstead to watch the interplay of cutting-edge science with emotional intensity and philosophical unanswerables?" - Libby Purves

YELLOWFIN

Jessie Anand Productions / Walrus / Southwark Playhouse

by Marek Horn

Cast: Nancy Crane, Nicholas Day, Joshua James, Beruce Khan

* Nominated for five Off-West End Awards, including for Best New Play and Best Director.

"Ed Madden's traverse staging of Horn's interval-free text swims by beautifully... This world premiere run of the play is urgent, astute and persuasive." - The Times

"Madden's tidy production allows Horn's skilful wordplay to take centre stage... The climactic moments are superbly well constructed, leading to a delicious denouement. I guarantee you'll never look at a tin of tuna in quite the same way" - WhatsOnStage
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"A rare glimpse of that vanishing species: the play of ideas." - The Telegraph

"Sharp, tangy and truly hilarious... Much credit goes to director Ed Madden for showcasing and framing these performances with finesse, [finding] dynamism in exquisite pacing and in Pappenheim's sound world." - Exeunt

"Smart, funny, scary: an absolute bream of a play. An ace cast in a diamond production." - David Jays

A TABLE TENNIS PLAY

Walrus / Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

by Sam Steiner

Cast: Beth Holmes, Euan Kitson and Rosa Robson

"Heartsore drama, vivid theatricality... In Ed Madden's production, every minute feels beautifully considered, and his cast smash it out of the park. " - Sunday Times

"Madden's production remains largely abstract; a perfect counter for characters that are so vividly drawn... An absolute ace." - WhatsOnStage

"In Ed Madden's beautifully judged, brilliantly acted production, a play that takes its time comes up like a bruise." - Fest

"You want to hang on to every last word." - Telegraph

A NUMBER

The Other Room, Cardiff

by Caryl Churchill
Welsh premiere

Cast: Brendan Charleson and Stevie Raine

"Madden's subtle production... Deftly directed and performed." - The Stage

​"A poised presentation of this beautifully thoughtful tale" - British Theatre Guide

"More pertinent, more perceptive, and more powerful than ever." - The Reviews Hub

THE WORLD'S WIFE

Welsh National Opera / Taliesin Arts Centre / Mavron Quartet

Music by Tom Green
Libretto by Carol Ann Duffy

Cast: Amanda Forbes and the Mavron Quartet

"This stunning one-woman show... Skilfully directed by Ed Madden." - The Arts Desk

"Simply staged... Amanda Forbes brilliantly turns from Medusa's fury to Anne Hathaway's tenderness to Salome's vampy vacuum cleaner cabaret." - The Times

"An intimate experience, painting the sharp wit and emotional push-me-pull-you of Duffys' poetry... Sensitively wrought." - The Stage

LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS

Warwick Arts Centre / Zoo Southside, Edinburgh Festival Fringe / Roundabout at Summerhall / UK Tour

by Sam Steiner

Cast: Beth Holmes and Euan Kitson

"I don't even want to think about how young this company is... About as promising as debuts get." - Time Out

"Beautifully choreographed by director Ed Madden." - The Guardian

"An intelligent, confident, beautifully formed piece of theatrical metaphor... Madden's subtle, effective production." - Fest

LEOPOLDSTADT

Sonia Friedman Productions / Longacre Theatre, Broadway

By Tom Stoppard
Dir. Patrick Marber

HABEAS CORPUS

Menier Chocolate Factory

By Alan Bennett
Dir. Patrick Marber

LEOPOLDSTADT

Sonia Friedman Productions / Wyndham's Theatre

By Tom Stoppard
Dir. Patrick Marber

TARTUFFE

National Theatre

By Molière adapt. John Donnelly
Dir. Blanche McIntyre

THE WINTER'S TALE

Shakespeare's Globe

By William Shakespeare
Dir. Blanche McIntyre

THE CHILDREN

Royal Court

By Lucy Kirkwood
Dir. James Macdonald

THE RIVALS

Bristol Old Vic / Glasgow Citizens / Liverpool Everyman

By Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Dir. Dominic Hill

THE IPHIGENIA QUARTET: AGAMEMNON/CHORUS

Gate Theatre, Notting Hill

By Caroline Bird / Chris Thorpe
Dir. Christopher Haydon / Elayce Ismail