OUR HISTORY
The society was established in 1892 and except for periods during the Boer War and
the First and Second World Wars, has performed every year since. Although no
shows were produced during these trying times, the society was active performing
concerts for the Red Cross.
For many years our home was The Queens Theatre, Burslem, but in 1998 , just
before we opened with ”Crazy For You”, the ceiling collapsed and the theatre was
closed. Within a week we moved everything into “The Royal “, a lovely old traditional
theatre in Hanley. Since, we have played in all the local theatres in what is now
called the Cultural Centre of the Potteries. Members of the society were invited to
meet the Queen when, after its refurbishment, she opened “The Regent”, the main
venue there.
This company likes a challenge and we faced one when playing a major musical,
“Man of La Mancha” in the round, at the New Victoria Theatre - first for the theatre
and a first for us. This was very well received and we returned again with’ Cabaret’,
‘Oklahoma’ and ‘Damn Yankees’.
Over the years we have been given many NODA awards for our productions and were the winners of the International Festival of Musicals at the Buxton Opera House in 1997 with ‘’Me and My Girl”. Over the years we have received many NODA awards the most recent was for the West Midlands Best Show “Sister Act" in 2015. We have on many occasions presented premier amateur performances of newly released shows, always to great acclaim and always of the highest standard. The society is always on the lookout for new, modern, different and exciting shows to perform.
Every year, several of our young members move on to careers in theatre. From the past, the most well known are Robbie Williams, Jonathan Wilkes, Anthea and Wendy Turner, Simon Bishop, Tim Churchill, John Cumberlidge and Gordon Alcock. More recently, we have brother and sister Sam and Charlotte O’Rourke both playing in the West End
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NODA award for the West Midlands Best Show 2015
