Previous Productions
Blimey!
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 |
1997 |
They Came from Mars |
|
1979 |
Murder in Company |
|
Same Time Next Year |
|
|
The Other Fellow’s Oats |
1998 |
Communicating Doors |
|
|
Mist over the Mistletoe |
|
Barefoot in the Park |
|
1980 |
The Day After the Fair |
|
Deathtrap |
|
|
Big Bad Mouse |
1999 |
Talking Heads |
|
|
The Full Treatment |
|
Haywire |
|
1981 |
Dark Lucy |
|
Cinderella |
|
|
A Tomb with a View |
2000 |
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime |
|
|
Three One-Act Plays |
|
Jack and the Beanstalk |
|
|
The Deep Blue Sea |
2001 |
Love Hurts |
|
|
Aladdin |
|
Killing Time |
|
1982 |
Blithe Spirit |
|
Tarara Boom De Ay
(Playmakers) |
|
|
I’ll Get My Man |
|
Rattle of a Simple Man |
|
|
The Middle Watch |
|
Outside Edge |
|
|
Joking Apart |
2002 |
Dark Lucy |
|
1983 |
Wizard of Oz |
|
Kindly Keep It Covered |
|
|
Murder Deferred |
|
Dick Whittington |
|
|
Busy Body |
2003 |
Deadly Nightcap |
|
|
Ring Round the Moon |
|
Our Day Out (Playmakers) |
|
|
On Monday Next |
|
The Gingerbread Lady |
|
1984 |
Gaslight |
|
Party Piece |
|
|
The Late Mrs Early |
|
Portland's Peter Piper |
|
|
Arms and the Man |
2004 |
Separate Tables |
|
|
Murder Mistaken |
|
Bazaar & Rummage |
|
1985 |
My Giddy Aunt |
|
The Servant |
|
|
The House on the Cliff |
|
Aladdin |
|
|
The Owl and the Pussycat |
2005 |
Pollyanna |
|
|
Pool’s Paradise |
|
Fantastic Mr Fox
(Playmakers) |
|
1986 |
Kind Cousin |
|
Trip of a Lifetime |
|
|
Just the Ticket |
|
The Shop at Sly Corner |
|
|
House Guest |
|
Good Night Mrs Puffin |
|
|
Daughter of the Left Hand |
2006 |
Alice in Wonderland &
Parcel (Playmakers) |
|
1987 |
When we are Married |
|
A Doll's House |
|
|
A Funny Kind of Day |
|
Pygmalion |
|
|
A Murder is Announced |
|
Arsenic and Old Lace |
|
1988 |
Educating Rita |
|
Snow White |
|
|
Aurelia |
2007 |
Popcorn |
|
|
See How They Run |
|
A Dog’s Life & The
Pomegranate Seeds (Playmakers) |
|
|
The Farndale Avenue Murder
Mystery |
|
The Ghost Train |
|
1989 |
Waiting in the Wings |
|
The Birthday Party |
|
1989 |
Suddenly at Home |
|
Cinderella |
|
|
The Late Christopher Bean |
2008 |
The Lover / After Midnight
Before Dawn / Arthur |
|
1990 |
Spine-Chiller |
|
Teechers (Playmakers) |
|
|
Bonaventure |
|
The Winslow Boy |
|
|
Look No Hans |
|
A Night on the Tiles |
|
1991 |
Night Must Fall |
2009 |
Sleeping Beauty |
|
|
Plaza Suite |
|
The Odd Couple |
|
|
Pardon Me Prime Minister |
|
An Inspector Calls |
|
|
Ladies in Retirement |
|
A Christmas Carol |
|
1992 |
The Day After the Fair |
2010 |
Educating Rita |
|
|
The Year After the Fair |
|
Blithe Spirit |
|
|
Fish Out of Water |
|
Centre Stage (Playmakers) |
|
1993 |
Charley’s Aunt |
|
The Memory of Water |
|
|
Murder on the Nile |
|
Dick Whittington |
|
|
The Unvarnished Truth |
2011 |
Bat out of Heaven
(Playmakers) |
|
|
Nightmare |
|
Summer End |
|
1994 |
My Friend Miss Flint |
|
Old Time Variety Show |
|
|
Relatively Speaking |
|
One for the Road |
|
|
Post Horn Gallop |
|
|
|
1995 |
Who Says Murder? |
|
|
|
|
Feeling the Pinch |
|
|
|
1996 |
Stepping Out |
|
|
|
|
Wait Until Dark |
|
|
|
|
A Letter from the General |
|
|
|
|
Turning Blind Eyes |
|
|
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?