This year, York DramaSoc celebrates its 50th Anniversary: how far we’ve come since the good old days of 25 audience members in Central Hall.
There is a lot to celebrate: the shows, the people, the progress. There have been over 300 plays performed within DramaSoc. For the last few years, the line up has been one show per week – that’s eight shows a term. Multiply this by two when including our fantastic Open Drama Nights. The range is amazing, and the quality impressive. DramaSoc is first and foremost, and has always been, a platform for people to quite literally perform, put on, write and produce whatever they want. Over the years, the people involved have been wide-ranging and extraordinary – everyone from Simon Stephens, Anthony Horowitz, Nick Payne and Greg Dyke himself have been involved with the society, going onto achieve illustrious and successful careers. The progress has been vast. The society is proud to fund the incredible work of independent student theatre companies at the Edinburgh Fringe and other renowned theatre festivals. Incoming grants have meant constant work and improvements to our beloved Drama Barn, and have seen York host the prestigious International University Drama Festival.
The 50th Anniversary, being held throughout Week 10, is a non-stop celebration commemorating the work of countless people. As well as numerous events, including an inter-performance society sports day, and our famous ‘Play-In-A-Day’, we will be holding a fantastic question and answer session with notable DramaSoc alumni, including Simon Stephens (playwright, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime). We will also be unveiling an incredible work in progress – an archival system mapping all the shows and members that have ever been a part of DramaSoc. This will allow current and leaving members to create their own profiles and chart their own time at York.
The society is, essentially, a community of committed and extremely creative people who – whether they watch plays, are part of them, write them, or direct them – have impacted upon the society and have allowed the society to be a huge part of their lives. Some will go on to be the next revolutionary faces of British theatre, some will never act again. Yet the continually growing and thriving society will aim to always be an integral part of university life. Here’s to the next 50 years.
