Previous Productions

 

Blimey!

We’ve done quite a few plays since we began,

and we’re still going strong today…

 

The Royal Manor Theatre Company has come a long way since its birth, more than 60 years ago as the Portland Dramatic Society!  Sprung from the ideas of a dozen or so people wanting to bring live theatre back to Portland after the war, it's beginnings were small and modest.

Starting in 1947 the group joined various concerts, contributing sketches and thus gained experience. In April 1949, the first full-length play, "Mystery at Greenfingers" by J.B. Priestley was performed in the Masonic Hall, Victoria Square. This was the beginning of an active period for Portland Dramatic Society. Between 1949 and 1957 eighteen one-act and thirteen full-length plays were presented around the island. The Borstal Officers Club, Easton Methodist Hall, the old Palace Cinema in Easton Square, Brackenbury Schoolroom and the Jubilee Hall all played host to Portland's own theatre group. The plays presented included "The Bishops Candlesticks", "The Shop at Sly Corner", "The Hollow", "The Chiltern Hundreds" and "Blithe Spirit".

 

Here’s just a sample of what we’ve produced over the years…

 

1978

Wedding of the Year

1995

Who Says Murder?

1979

Murder in Company

Feeling the Pinch

The Other Fellow’s Oats

1996

Stepping Out

Mist over the Mistletoe

Wait Until Dark

1980

The Day After the Fair

A Letter from the General

Big Bad Mouse

Turning Blind Eyes

The Full Treatment

1997

They Came from Mars

1981

Dark Lucy

Same Time Next Year

A Tomb with a View

1998

Communicating Doors

Three One-Act Plays

Barefoot in the Park

The Deep Blue Sea

Deathtrap

Aladdin

1999

Talking Heads

1982

Blithe Spirit

Haywire

I’ll Get My Man

Cinderella

The Middle Watch

2000

Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime

Joking Apart

Jack and the Beanstalk

1983

Wizard of Oz

2001

Love Hurts

Murder Deferred

Killing Time

Busy Body

Tarara Boom De Ay (Playmakers)

Ring Round the Moon

Rattle of a Simple Man

On Monday Next

Outside Edge

1984

Gaslight

2002

Dark Lucy

The Late Mrs Early

Kindly Keep It Covered

Arms and the Man

Dick Whittington

Murder Mistaken

2003

Deadly Nightcap

1985

My Giddy Aunt

Our Day Out (Playmakers)

The House on the Cliff

The Gingerbread Lady

The Owl and the Pussycat

Party Piece

Pool’s Paradise

Portland's Peter Piper

1986

Kind Cousin

2004

Separate Tables

Just the Ticket

Bazaar & Rummage

House Guest

The Servant

Daughter of the Left Hand

Aladdin

1987

When we are Married

2005

Pollyanna

A Funny Kind of Day

Fantastic Mr Fox (Playmakers)

A Murder is Announced

Trip of a Lifetime

1988

Educating Rita

The Shop at Sly Corner

Aurelia

Good Night Mrs Puffin

See How They Run

2006

Alice in Wonderland & Parcel (Playmakers)

The Farndale Avenue Murder Mystery

A Doll's House

1989

Waiting in the Wings

Pygmalion

1989

Suddenly at Home

Arsenic and Old Lace

The Late Christopher Bean

Snow White

1990

Spine-Chiller

2007

Popcorn

Bonaventure

A Dog’s Life & The Pomegranate Seeds (Playmakers)

Look No Hans

The Ghost Train

1991

Night Must Fall

The Birthday Party

Plaza Suite

Cinderella

Pardon Me Prime Minister

2008

The Lover / After Midnight Before Dawn / Arthur

Ladies in Retirement

 Teechers (Playmakers)

1992

The Day After the Fair

 The Winslow Boy

The Year After the Fair

 A Night on the Tiles

Fish Out of Water

2009

 Sleeping Beauty

1993

Charley’s Aunt

 The Odd Couple

Murder on the Nile

An Inspector Calls

The Unvarnished Truth

A Christmas Carol

Nightmare

2010

Educating Rita

1994

My Friend Miss Flint

Blithe Spirit

Relatively Speaking

Centre Stage (Playmakers)

Post Horn Gallop

 

Of course, the company’s production history dates back much further than this!

Why not take a look at our ‘History’ page to find out exactly what sort of plays we produced all those years ago?