Mad Mask is the idea of modern-European drama theorist, translator and producer Simon Image.

Many great plays have been written, but some of the great­est, we believe, are largely under­rated, under­per­formed, and other­wise un­fairly un­heard-of or un­known and little ­discussed even in acadmic circles.

We aim to change that, bringing to life some of the forgotten gems by major dramatists and contemporary writers. You know Six Characters in Search of an Author but have you heard of The Cap and Bells? You know Waiting for Godot but have you heard of That Time? We thought not—and if you have, wouldn’t you like to be able to talk about those plays with others who have?

Some of our productions are for stage; some of them will be on film, enhancing not losing the playwright’s essence—in fact it was almost 100 years ago (well before the Netflix revolution) that Luigi Pirandello first suggested that some of his plays might work better on film. The film productions will be in television style: think Abigail’s Party rather than Avatar.

Whilst we are essentially non-profit-making, we intend that revenue raised from some productions can be put into others, particularly the film productions for which there is a significant outlay hiring camera equipment and personnel. Also, we’d like to pay our actors.

We hope that you share our mission, and will come and watch one of our perform­ances, on stage or online. If anything on these pages has piqued your interest, we are always looking for actors and other production personnel, so please do drop us a line.

Simon also presents talks on subjects combining literature (and theatre and film) with philosophy, details of which can be found on The Quest for the Centre website.