We are very excited to have Madeleine Thorne working with us this year as our Community Engagement Producer / General Manager. Madeleine brings a wealth of experience working with people from a huge range of different backgrounds and engaging them with opera and theatre in fun accessible ways. So that you could get to know Madeleine we asked her a few questions….
What excites you most about working with Baseless Fabric?
I’ve been really interested in the company’s work for a long time – my role at Opera North was all about making opera and the performing arts more accessible to a wider range of people, and it’s such a passion of mine, so I can’t wait to be a part of Baseless Fabric and learn more about how they achieve these things!
What other projects have you been working on recently?
I have been having an amazing time developing an early years performance about tooth fairies with a musician and fellow actor. It’s great fun playing a fairy and I can’t wait until we can get the show in front of some children and see what they think!
Tell us about 3 of your favourite theatre or opera experiences ever.
It’s so difficult to narrow it down as I am lucky to have had so many incredible experiences! But I’ll go with one of my earliest memories – crying and refusing to leave after seeing Peter Pan (starring Bonnie Langford!) with my mum as I didn’t want it to be over, I’ve wanted to work in theatre ever since!
The second one is directing Noughts and Crosses when I was Youth Theatre Director at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield – the young cast were absolutely fantastic and I was so proud of the show we created together!
And then the last one would have to be an Opera North production – it’s hard to pick just one but I’ll go with The Greek Passion because producing it allowed us to do so much awareness raising around what it’s like to be someone who is seeking asylum in the UK, an issue which is very close to my heart. And it was a brilliant show!
