He was a member of the Liverpool based Neptune Theatre Company and appeared in the Willy Russell stage play Breezeblock Park and the Phil Redmond play Soaplights at the Liverpool Playhouse.
The group was closely involved in the development of Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s Proper Clever, his first script for the stage which was produced at the Playhouse in October 2008.
McArdle is also an accomplished stage actor, recently seen in Our Country's Good at the Liverpool Playhouse.
Other artistes who gained experience at the theatre include Robert Donat, Lilian Braithwaite, Cecil Parker, John Gregson, Clive Brook, C. Aubrey Smith, Richard Burton, Michael Redgrave, Diana Wynyard, Rex Harrison, Patricia Routledge, Anthony Hopkins, and Richard Briers.
Liverpool | Liverpool F.C. | University of Liverpool | Pasadena Playhouse | Liverpool, New South Wales | West Yorkshire Playhouse | Liverpool Cathedral | Liverpool and Manchester Railway | Leeds and Liverpool Canal | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic | Playhouse Theatre | Nottingham Playhouse | Liverpool Street station | Liverpool Playhouse | Playhouse Disney | Oxford Playhouse | Liverpool Biennial | Liverpool Lime Street railway station | Paper Mill Playhouse | Liverpool Street | Liverpool Plains | Liverpool, England | Tate Liverpool | Liverpool University | Liverpool John Lennon Airport | Liverpool Echo | Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool | Liverpool John Moores University | Coconut Grove Playhouse | Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse |
His first professional acting work was with a Theatre in Education company in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, and he was subsequently cast in Willy Russell plays such as Breezeblock Park (at the Liverpool Playhouse) and Blood Brothers (at the Derby Playhouse).
The Sacred Flame by W. Somerset Maugham (Autumn 2012) - Touring from September 2012 to the following venues: Rose Theatre, Kingston, Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne, Oxford Playhouse, New Wolsey Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Theatre Royal, Brighton, The Nuffield Theatre Southampton, and Cambridge Arts Theatre.
Originally produced by and starring Charles Wyndham at the Criterion Theatre, London, in 1907, it was revived in London at the Arts Theatre in 1949, at Liverpool Playhouse in 2006 (although the title was changed to The Lady of Leisure), and at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 2007 and has also been filmed.
She has also appeared in Hard Times at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End, and in Raving Beauties with John McArdle at the Liverpool Playhouse (1991–1992).
In 2009, he has awarded a prestigious TMA award for “Outstanding production of a musical” and nominated for the What’s On Stage “Best Regional Theatre” prize for his musical Once Upon A Time At The Adelphi (Liverpool Playhouse).
Matthew Spangler's plays have been produced by the San Jose Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Play House, San Diego Repertory Theatre, New Repertory Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Citadel Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse (staged reading), the Nottingham Playhouse, Liverpool Playhouse, Brighton Festival, the National Steinbeck Center, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Avignon Theatre Festival, in addition to other theatres and festivals.