Friends of Manx Drama

Join the Friends!

About a dozen years ago when Michael Lees was MADF Chairman, he proposed the formation of what became the Friends of the Easter Festival. His aim was to give audiences a sense of belonging and for the Friends to attempt to attract greater audiences to the Easter Festival.

Currently we support, as essential audience; the Easter Festival of One Act & Full-Length Plays, the biennial Young Actor of Mann and plays and musicals throughout the Island.

By attending on each night of the Easter Festival you will have the benefit of not only watching and forming your own opinion of each performance, but also learning much from the GoDA Adjudicator. You may be surprised to find that it is not necessarily the most obvious or well-known plays that you will enjoy most. Many of us now approach an evening at the theatre very differently and thoroughly enjoy the combination of cultural experience and social occasion.

The Friends run coffee mornings during the year and the Easter Festival lunch on Easter Monday to raise funds for special MADF events and activities, such as anniversary years. Details of our upcoming events can be found below and on Facebook.

Our off-island members attending the Easter Festival each year are an important component of our membership. Renewing contacts at the festival and at the Easter Monday Lunch at the Empress Hotel is always enjoyed by everyone.

The Friends are a loose-knit organisation requiring the absolute minimum of formality.

We offer two types of membership:
Annual     £4
Life            £30

Upcoming Friends Events:

Easter Festival Lunch 2025

When: Easter Monday, 21st April 2025 from 1pm
Where: The Empress Hotel, Douglas.
Price: £TBC, payable to Manx Amateur Drama Federation.
Please contact Christine via friends@madf.im to book.
 
The Festival Lunch is a lovely opportunity for the Friends, festival organisers, members of the visiting amateur theatre groups and theatre lovers to get together for food and great conversation. The visiting adjudicator will give an after lunch talk on a related topic and there will be a raffle to raise money for MADF.
 
 

MURDER MYSTERY STEAM TRAIN EXPERIENCE
To celebrate our 75th anniversary, we are organising a Murder Mystery Steam Train experience on Saturday, 2nd August. The train departs at 7pm from Douglas, and will return by 10.30pm. There will be a three course dinner (pre-ordering essential) with tickets £49 per person. Two carriages have been reserved for the sole use of MADF with a maximum of 40 tickets available to sell. Please make a note of the date in your diary. We’ll let you know when tickets go on sale, along with the choice of menu and further information.

For further details on the Friends, contact friends@madf.im