About The Milton Rooms

The Milton Rooms aims to collaborate with established and emerging artists, to make Malton a hub of excellence for the arts, in all creative fields.With the dedication of a new, energetic team of artists and performers plans are already in place for new Artist's Studios, a Studio Theatre and an ambitious program of events for the summer of 2011.Built by the Fitzwilliam family in 1814 for the benefit of the residents of Malton and Norton the original, now Grade II listed, Subscription Rooms played host to society balls, town meetings, music recitals and more recently to sporting, social and church events. With the addition, in 1932, of the Milton Rooms Hall and Bar the buildings became the centre of community activity with local community performing societies staging their productions here.

Milton RoomWith the largest sprung dancefloor in North Yorkshire, the Milton Rooms will be turned into a state of the art venue for visiting productions, community events and our own in house productions. The Main Hall is also a regular venue for auctions, sales and exhibitions.

Fitzwilliam RoomThe Fitzwilliam Room is now a fully equipped, forty seat studio theatre, acoustic music room and bar. Both the Studio Theatre and the Main Hall are available for hire.

The Parish RoomWe have plans for the Georgian Parish Rooms to provide resident Artist's studios, including an incubation space for recently graduated artists.

Assembly Room

Our aim is for the beautiful Georgian Assembly Room to become our main rehearsal room and a new exhibition and concert space.ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

Nick Bagnall and Garry Cooper

PATRONS

Kathy Burke, Imelda Staunton, Jools Holland and Bill Nighy

PRESS RELEASE

Stars of Music, Stage and Screen Back New Arts Venture

BAFTA award winners Imelda Staunton and Bill Nighy, award winning actress and director Kathy Burke and music legend Jools Holland have all given their backing to The Milton Rooms, an exciting new arts venture in Malton, North Yorkshire. The star studded group of patrons have come on board to support artistic directors Garry Cooper and Nick Bagnall in their bid to convert this neglected community space into a centre of excellence for the arts.

Garry Cooper comments:“The Milton Rooms has the potential to be a centre of excellence for the arts, not just in Malton but the whole of the Ryedale area. We promise to offer spaces for drama, music, dance, visual arts, literature and crafts as well as keeping the many community activities that the building has hosted over the years.”

The Milton Rooms was originally built by Earl Fitzwilliam in 1814 and extended in 1931 but over the last few decades, use of the building has declined and it has suffered from neglect with a consequent deterioration of its fabric. Plans have been put in place to restore and weather proof parts of this beautiful building but this is only the beginning.

With private donations and funding from Ryedale Council and Fitzwilliam Estate, as well as North Yorkshire County Council this is the first stage in re-animation of this historic building.

For more information please contact Garry Cooper or Nick Bagnall at The Milton Rooms 01653 696240. Or visit the website www.themiltonrooms.com

PRESS RELEASE

The Community Dream:The Milton Rooms inaugural production.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William ShakespeareDirected by Nick Bagnall for THE MILTON ROOMS.26th June 2011 at 6pm.

In the wake of the coalition’s call for the big society, 150 local people from all over Ryedale are coming together to perform Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream through the streets of Malton. For ONE NIGHT ONLY this production will lead its audience from Church to Market Place, through alleyways and snickets into the newly refurbished main Room in The Milton Rooms, embracing local history and local mysteries.

This Milton Rooms launch production brings together both professional and local amateur actors and is being helmed by director Nick Bagnall, whose recent productions of Entertaining Mr. Sloane at the Trafalgar Studios in London’s West End with Imelda Staunton and Matthew Horne and Billy Liar at the West Yorkshire Playhouse won rave reviews.

Nick Bagnall; Joint Artistic Director of The Milton Rooms comments;“It is essential that the community feels like the building belongs to them again after years of neglect and THE DREAM seems like the perfect play to make that happen. Its three interlocking stories and tales of mischief and mayhem in fairy land gives me the opportunity to use the town as a toy box and it promises to be quite a spectacle.”

Nick will also be using 70 local children and many surprises are in store in this highly ambitious project. There are a limited number of tickets, so to reserve yours please contact the box office on 01653 600 048, or visit our website www.themiltonrooms.com

Garry Cooper says; “I am delighted Nick is directing this, our first production. His imagination and inventiveness makes him the star director he is. His wealth of classical knowledge and his ability to motivate young people will make this an extraordinary evening of theatre.”

The Milton Rooms

Thanks to you all for your continued support to make the Milton Rooms launch and opening run such a triumph.

"North Yorkshire has been crying out for something like this. These are exciting times. "

- The Yorkshire Post

We opened our doors to near sell out shows and could not be more pleased as we come the end of our opening program. The next events calendar is soon to come out and our website continues to be updated with exciting new fixtures including Magic, Music, Comedy and Theatre.

Malton Shows that All the World's a Stage

Free Photos, Malton, North YorkshireArticle By: Dave RobertsFirst Published: 27 June 2011An incredible night of love, passion, magic, mischief and tragic comedy set in one of the finest theatres in North Yorkshire: 'Malton Market Place'. Yes the entire central area of Malton was sealed off yesterday evening while professional and amateur performers put on an open air theatre offering a modern take on Shakespeare's: 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' one of the most popular of the plays written by the world's greatest story teller.At 6pm the magic started with a 'sold out' audience packed inside St Michael's Church. The opening scenes setting out the core of the mystical love story which would unfold around the town, with the entire area around the Market Place becoming an open air theatre.

A central group of professional actors, including Tom Stuart, Leah Whitaker and Garry Cooper formed the back-bone of this spectacular production that also included 150 local people.

The Shakespeare extravaganza was organised by the new 'Milton Rooms Team' of energetic artists and performers who have recently come together. The team's mission is to make Malton a hub of excellence for the arts covering all creative fields.

The Milton Rooms was built by the Fitzwilliam family in 1814 for the benefit of the residents of Malton and Norton and is now a Grade II listed property which has undergone a recent refurbishment. The main hall of the rooms now incorporates the largest sprung floor in North Yorkshire, fully equipped with audio and lighting, The Milton Rooms is set ready to become a popular local attraction.

Last night's show attracted crowds in the Market Place and a full main hall as the show climaxed with the ending scene - a play within a play, inside the Milton Rooms. A show which had delighted the enthusiastic audience made up of people from all age groups, who came to their feet in a standing ovation for what can only be described as Shakespeare at its very best.

Magical Night

MAGIC came to Malton on Sunday with A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

A standing ovation is deserved by the cast – the full-time actors and local people taking part – who wove together a spellbinding performance.

It is a pretty fair guess to say the town has never seen anything like it. I certainly had not.

Some parts were as surreal as they were spectacular. White-faced wire-haired fairies were somehow all the more stunning in costume set against the everyday dress of other characters.

All of us who had the privilege to see the production witnessed something very different, not least an armada of gleaming scooters and riders at Oberon’s command.

Much of the production moved around locations in the town centre.

Umbrellas were handed out as a prop for one scene, mainly serving to show that some people should never be put in charge of a brolly.

With a wave of his hand, the king of the faeries made the market area car-free, a welcome reminder of how vastly more attractive the centre is without vehicles.

The150-strong cast of all ages should take a bow for a brilliant night.

You did Malton proud.

Howard Keal, Norton

The Milton Rooms

Acting workshops at the Milton Rooms

with Nick Bagnall

26th, 27th, 28th October 10:00 am - 4:00 pm £75 for the course

Fresh from directing A Separate Reality for the Royal Court Theatre and following his successful Milton Rooms community production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Nick Bagnall will be leading a three day acting workshop developing the actor's craft through improvisation and character development incorporating essential acting techniques.

The workshop will also investigate how to devise a new play with established playwright, Michael McLean and lead to a presentation of work in the Milton Rooms Studio Theatre.

All entrants will receive a copy of the finished playscript and a DVD of the performance. The workshop is open to 11 - 16 year olds.

The Milton Rooms: Past, Present, Future

Vicky Parry

‘The Milton Rooms’ is situated just outside York in Malton. With a list of Patrons such as Kathy Burke, Imelda Staunton, Jools Holland and Bill Nighy, alongside a growing reputation for high quality events they are set to gain eminence as a highly valuable and essential cultural hub for the North of England.Tell us a little bit about how The Milton Rooms came about?The Milton Rooms were originally built in 1814 and added to in 1931 by local landowners, the Fitzwilliam family. About forty years ago it was given to Ryedale District Council and subsequently leased to a management committee with the hope of turning it into an arts venue. Over the years various attempts were made to bring the place to life but it is only this year that a concerted effort from a new committee has managed to bring some consistency to programming. Already we have seen some great nights here – a grand Gala opening hosted by Barry Cryer with stars of the West End stage, the Peatbog Faeries filling the main room with fabulous music and our own community production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with a cast of over 150 including professional and amateur actors, motor scooters and horses.

How long has it been in the planning for?Garry Cooper and Nick Bagnall (joint Artistic Directors) and Nicholas Barton (Design Consultant) started planning for the June 2011 opening in January. The building had been run down and needed some refurbishment. Funds came from Ryedale District Council, North Yorkshire County Council and the Fitzwilliam Estate as well as a couple of private donations. Work started on the repainting of the main Room and stage area, the Fitzwilliam bar was turned into a Studio Theatre/Acoustic Music Room, the whole place was given a good spring clean.How did you all meet?Garry and Nick Barton met at a Milton Rooms committee meeting in October 2010. Garry and Nick Bagnall are old friends and colleagues. When Garry and Barton started looking at ways to regenerate the building Bagnall was invited to be a part of it.What made you set up in Malton?Accident really. Barton is from the area, Garry had recently moved back to the North after many years in the South and Bagnall, originally from Scarborough moved back to Malton to be part of the project.Now, what exactly is it you are trying to achieve?To make the Milton Rooms a centre of excellence for the arts for North Yorkshire. As well as providing a space for visiting productions, music and exhibitions, our ambitions go beyond being just another Arts Centre – we aim to make the Milton Rooms a nationally known producing theatre.Who are you hoping to appeal to?Local people, tourists, the young, the old; hopefully we will provide for all tastes.How has the support for the project been so far?Support for the Milton Rooms has grown from day one. We have had lots of local support from individuals and from organisations. We have also had meetings and discussions with some of the leading theatre companies in the country – Shakespeare’s Globe, Headlong, English Touring Theatre, KneeHigh, Paines Plough – regarding future collaborations. We have had great support from our patrons – Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Kathy Burke, and Jools Holland.What exciting things have you got coming up?As well as our regular programming of music in the Studio we have Georgie Fame appearing here on October 10th, we are hosting the Malton Literature Festival and continuing with our very successful Tea and a Tale on Sunday afternoons – a reading of a classic short story by a professional actor over a lovely cup of tea.

So, what are you all waiting for? Transport is easy from York and regular; hop on a bus/train and go and see what all the fuss is about.