Having weathered its fair share of storms - from dealing with the fallout of Covid-19 to a dwindling committee - one of Cape Town’s oldest theatre associations is ready to rebuild.

The Claremont Dramatic Society is one of only two remaining theatre associations that have managed to stay afloat in the wake of the pandemic, but it is short of committee members, leading to the current hiatus in its theatrical activities.

Founded in 1952 as the Sons of England Dramatic Society and renamed to the Claremont Dramatic Society (CDS) in 1994, the club has produced between one and three shows annually. Originally they were performed at local venues, predominantly the Claremont Civic Centre, with occasional performances at theatres such as the Labia, Hofmeyr and Somerset West Playhouse. CDS is also one of the original Masque Theatre societies and has been staging productions at that venue since the 1970s.

In order to kickstart its activities and fill much needed committee seats, the society will hold a special annual general meeting tonight, Thursday November 7, at The Hok, Thicket Street, Claremont, at 7pm. The future direction of the society will be discussed.

Since any previous memberships (life members notwithstanding) have lapsed during the hiatus, the invitation to this meeting is open to all who are interested, whether you were a CDS member before or not.

Society spokesperson Kim Randleff-Rasmussen said they needed to start by repopulating their committee in order to give the society the jump-start needed to rejoin the theatre community.

“We currently have a secretary (Simon Dutton) and a communications officer (me) who have kept the clubhouse in our hands and the lights on. Our previous treasurer also left our books in a retrievable and ordered state. But in order to emerge as a fully functioning society we will need to find an energetic and enthusiastic chair, a supportive vice chair and a dedicated treasurer. Added to that, we will need the support and energy of the rest of the society,” she said.

”Aside from the surviving committee members and our handful of life members, we do not have any paid-up members for the simple reason that we did not maintain our membership dues and therefore numbers during the hiatus.”

Ms Randleff-Rasmussen said Covid restrictions on gatherings had affected all theatrical production companies, but it had had a particularly devastating effect on community theatre groups due to their reliance on volunteers and their low cash-flow.

“Two Masque Theatre societies – Fish Hoek Dramatic Society and Muizenberg Dramatic Society (MADS) – closed entirely after Covid because their membership was too low to support a functioning production committee. The remaining two societies – CDS and Constantiaberg Theatre Players – are still, in name at least, alive, but their theatrical output has been dramatically reduced since 2020,” she said.

Plays staged by the CDS in the past include The Woman in Black, The Comedy of Errors, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Silly Cow, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Owl and the Pussycat among others.

To attend or for more information RSVP to claremontdramatic@gmail.com or call 083 619 2441.

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Drama society ready to rise up