Maddermarket Theatre

 Originally built as a Roman Catholic chapel in 1794.  Here is a picture of the chapel:

In the nineteenth century it had been used as a baking soda factory, a grocery warehouse, and as a hall for the Salvation Army. It was small, the main body of the building measuring only forty by forty-six feet. However, a vaulted ceiling gave it excellent acoustics; more importantly, it already had galleries on three sides. 

The building was quickly converted by the Guild of Norwich Players from a state of near-dereliction into an Elizabethan style playhouse. Nugent Monck, the founder of the Guild of Norwich Players used to say it was a half scale model of the Fortune Theatre, although later scholars have suggested that Blackfriars Theatre would be a more accurate comparison.  

The Maddermarket Theatre opened in 1921.  The founder was Nugent Monck who had worked with William Poel. Poel was the first to restore Shakespeare's plays with the full text and to play them in the Elizabethan style without elaborate scenery.

The theatre is reputed to have a spirit monk haunting the walls of the theatre who over the years many audience members have claimed to have seen as well as actors and actresses saying they too have seen the monk. In 2004 an actress even claimed she was pushed by the entity!