A POPULAR drama group is celebrating its Diamond Anniversary with a favourite play and an exhibition of memorabilia from past productions.
Stockton Heath Methodist Dramatic Society marks 60 years of entertaining people with a production of “When We Are Married” by JB Priestley on May 13, 14 and 15 at 7.30pm.
There will also be an exhibition of past events, with old photos and past programmes, which members hope will bring back happy memories.
Set in 1908, the play is billed as a Yorkshire farcical comedy and centres on three couples gathered to celebrate their silver wedding anniversaries. But there’s trouble when they receive some disturbing news, which tests their relationships over the course of a long evening.
A group spokesperson said: “The play has rather a large cast and a lot of stage furniture, which means a stage extension will have to be erected to fit everything in!
“It’s a far cry from the very first play ‘Quiet Weekend’ by Esther McGracken, performed in 1950 – in the church itself, as there was as yet no church hall. Tickets cost the princely sum of one shilling and six pence – seven and-a-half pence in today’s money.
The hall was finally built in 1957 and since then the group has regularly staged “plays – a number of them award-winning.”
Productions have ranged from the small and intimate to the extravagant, such as the musicals South Pacific and My Fair Lady. For one play – “Home” by Davis Storey – they even laid on a three-course supper for the audience, as part of the production.
The group is always keen to try new approaches and on one occasion the “stage” was the lower part of the hall, with audiences perched on what is usually the stage.
Some of the group have been members for decades and current chairman Bert Rigby has been a member for 30 years.
Anyone interested in joining, either on stage or behind the scenes, can call 01925 264179 for information.
