scene

25 years of Stromness Drama
Club
Amateur dramatics had been a popular activity in
Stromness during much of the 20th century, but was
somewhat in the doldrums before an enthusiastic group
of people decided to get together and set up Stromness
Drama Club in November 1989: - “The 15 people who
turned up to the meeting agreed that the club should
meet on a regular basis, once a month, to have play
readings, visiting speakers or other items of interest to
members as well as put on productions of plays.”
Since that time, 25 years ago, SDC has participated in
the SCDA one-act play festival almost every year, with
a record four entries from the club in 2003. We have
often represented Orkney at Divisional finals, and three
times at Scottish finals. However our 'biggest year' in
SCDA was in 1996 when we went right through to the
British Finals with Bertolt Brecht's “The Measures
Taken”, directed by a young man, Graham Garson,
making his debut production with the club. It became a
real community event when a busload of Orkney
supporters accompanied the cast and crew to Wales.
The regular monthly club nights of the early days have
fallen into abeyance as commitment to productions takes
up a large part of the year, as members also have the
opportunity to take part in artistic events with other
groups in Orkney. Apart from the one-act play festival in
February, the club puts on a regular Christmas show
(either a panto or a musical), and stages a late-night
comedy revue in Stromness Shopping Week in July. This
revue comprises original and topical material developed
by the club, and is one of our most popular events. There
are also occasional full-length productions and other
musical events from time to time.
SDC has always placed importance on including young
people in its productions, with youth entries in one-act
plays, and youth and adult actors working together in
shows such as “The Sound of Music” and “Oliver” , and
in pantos. The club's production of “Bugsy Malone”, with
a complete youth cast, won the SCDA Dore Jackson
trophy for best full-length musical production in 2003-4.
Unfortunately, our island location means that many of our
talented youngsters leave to head south for university
and college, and don't always come back. Which always
leaves an opportunity for the next age group...
The venue for most of our productions is Stromness
Town Hall, a former church, which presents us with
interesting challenges in staging, since there is a lack of
what most people expect in a theatre – no curtains,
wings or fixed seating. However, the transformation
achieved for shows such as 'Chicago', 'Disco Inferno' or
'Fiddler on the Roof' shows the creative imagination of
the stage and set designers. We are also fortunate in
having a small but dedicated and ingenious costume
team who take good advantage of the collection of
costumes and props built up over the years by the club.
Like many drama clubs, SDC's continued success is
largely down to a small hard-working committee, who are
able to call on support from a wider community when it
comes to productions. Twenty five years seem to have
flown past. Here's to the next quarter century!
Phyllis McLaughlin
Photo: 2013 Christmas production , 'Fiddler on the Roof'.
Scottish Final Orkney 2015
Organisation is well under way for an exciting Scottish Final Festival in Kirkwall next April in the lovely new theatre.
The dates are fixed and are 23rd -25th April 2015 and the adjudicator booked is Dr Paul Dougall. The hospitality of
Orkney is renowned and we hope many of you will take this opportunity to make this a holiday and see lots of the
exciting historical places in and around Kirkwall. There will be booking packages that will include accommodation,
theatre tickets and social functions. The booking forms will be enclosed in the Festival issue of Scene.
However, if you are at all interested and feel you might like to join us in Orkney please contact me on
Orkney2015@scda.org.uk and as soon as the package deals are finalised you will be sent a booking form.
Please note all theatre tickets have to be booked through the Organising Secretary, Morna Barron.
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