How to find us

Rogues Gallery

Faringdon is a small picturesque market town nestled in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. Click here for an Aerial Photograph

The Faringdon Dramatic Society, an amateur group formally known as the Faringdon Community Theatre, has been in existence since 1948, with its ups and downs over the years like all organisations. The level of membership is currently around fifty, augmented by up to sixty children who become temporary members for the annual pantomime.

While there is a constitution and a properly elected committee to manage the society, there is no pecking order or timeserving in our approach. Everyone plays to his or her skills and there is considerable flexibility in how jobs are shared out, someone may be painting scenery in one production and directing the next. A new member is quite likely to be given a major part when they first join, in fact this is positively encouraged - assuming, of course, that they have the required skills. Having said this, no one is pressurised if someone wishes to stay behind the scenes, that's fine.

The society has a considerable store of costumes (which are available for hire), scenery and props. We are financially viable and aim to at least break even on every production. Enjoyment is the main aim - not making money- but we have to pay our way.

We produce two plays a year in May and November and a pantomime in late January/early February, with play readings in between. There is also the odd one-act play, which we enter for the Abingdon Drama Festival. Some of our members help on and off stage with the Cotswold Arcadians' annual Shakespeare production in the summer. We are a very friendly group of people. As well as the party after the final performance of each production, we organise the occasional theatre trip, a regular mid-summer bar-b-que and a Christmas dinner.

With the closure of the Faringdon Community Theatre we have something of a crisis on our hands as far as venues are concerned. This in turn has put pressure on other venues, the Corn Exchange and the local Community College and we have difficulty booking our regular slots. Despite this the society is determined to carry on producing plays for our local audience (about 600 will attend a pantomime), and to involve itself in the local community. On a positive note we have made overtures to the theatre landlord in a bid to run it ourselves, however this is a very complicated situation and is on going.

See our A to Z for more information

New members are always very welcome, for more information or to join, contact the secretary by email secretary@faringdondramatic.org.uk. You could also come along to one of our performances or auditions and introduce yourself.

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About this website

The Faringdon Dramatic Society first went online on 22 January, 2000. It now has over 400 pages which include programs, photographs and press articles from many past productions.

Many people have been involved in its production:

Ian Lee - editor and content production
Penny Lee - front page design and construction
Jessica Lee - graphics design
The Faringdon Folly for providing most of the press articles and many of the photographs
Joan Lee, Helen Barter, Peter & Jo Webster, Nigel & Brenda Keith-Walker, and Gary Bates for the loan of their archive material.