ROS – Is it really 50 Years?

On 29th September 1960, a group of teachers from different schools in Thanet, mainly Chatham House, Clarendon House and Dane Court, met in the Old Library at Clarendon House, to discuss the possibility of forming a society with the object of producing Gilbert and Sullivan operas.

The company reassembled every October to rehearse on Thursday evenings, excluding school holidays, until the following May, when the shows were presented at the Granville Theatre, Ramsgate. The first production, in May 1961, was the ever-popular Mikado.

Then in 1969, for the first time, the Society departed from Gilbert and Sullivan to present Edward German’s Merrie England Following a very successful production of Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne in 1972, it was decided that two productions would be presented a year; one of these would be a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. Since that time a wide variety of shows have been offered, including operettas, musical comedies, musicals and revues.

 Extract taken from an article written by Sylvia Blogg (President of ROS).