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The Lace Market Theatre delivers a less mainstream take on theatre than other venues in the city, combining a mixture of plays to excite and challenge both audience and cast members alike.

Now in the process of planning a new development, the theatre believes there has never been a better time to join their audience, or even become a member.

It was founded by people who were seeking a form of theatre that was not available on either the amateur or the professional stage at the time - plays which you normally couldn't see, and would otherwise not be performed regularly.

Max Bromley is the son of one of the founding members, and has been at the theatre since he was 11. He directs, manages props and costumes and is a key role in the organisation of the theatre as a whole. I spoke to Max about the development, and about his experiences at the Lace Market Theatre...

What makes you different from the Theatre Royal and Playhouse?

Apart from our amateur status and shows only running for one week, we do not essentially consider the wishes of the audience. We are primarily concerned with what our members can do, and we put on plays that our membership are excited about doing.

We do not work on your standard 'bums on seats', we are not here for that. We are here for the presentation of exciting drama, which challenges and makes people think.

How is the theatre funded?

The theatre is entirely funded by its box office and its bar receipts. We have had very generous donations from the city; we raise money ourselves, but generally the theatre finances itself. All staff members are voluntary.

Do you see any changes in the audiences during the course of a season?

We do get a very large percentage of our audience from the universities at certain times of the year. We do the odd classic, mainstream show, but we often find over 60% of our audiences are made up of non-members because of the variety of performances we offer.

How long have you been with the Lace Market?

There is a big family connection here for me. My father directed my mother in a couple of productions and then they married, moved away, came back to Nottingham in 1961 and I've been a member ever since.

How have you seen the theatre change over the years?

I can remember coming into this building for the very first time. It was in a very primitive state, there were lots of cast iron pillars everywhere, there was a hole in the chimney above the plasterboard.

Lace Market Theatre - front

Behind it the builders discovered approximately a foot and half of dead pigeons. We had another nasty moment when some builders discovered a cave, and there were 24 hours when we thought the entire building was going to collapse.

We are now in the process of planning a major refurbishment, which is being budgeted at over two million pounds.

That will enable us to provide full disabled access for both audience and for our participants, because at the moment it is a very difficult building to get around. We plan to have signed performances, access lifts and hopefully the building will become much more user-friendly.

What have been your main highlights?

There are so many. We performed the amateur premier of the RSC's version of Nicholas Nickleby, which was an eight and a half hour epic, which we split into the beginning and the end of the season.

It was a great moment because there were so many of us in it. I also remember as an actor, performing a play which very few people knew, and there were a mere 10 people in the audience.

They saw there were so few of them, so they all decided sit together, and at the end the ten of them gave us a standing ovation. That was very touching.

What's next for the Lace Market Theatre?

We have a production in July of 'Power' which is about Louis XIV. It's a promenade production which means we are using the entire auditorium.

After that we start again in September, we will have 'Art', 'Trelawny of the Wells' Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons' and a very interesting Ayckbourn production for Christmas.

'Power' runs from 17th - 22nd July 2006. Tickets are available from the Lace Market Theatre box office on 0115 9507201. Further information is available from the Lace Market Theatre website, which you can access via the link below.