About Us
The East Bergholt Dramatic Society was probably formed some time during the 1960's, but unfortunately there are no records from the early years and no original members are with the group anymore. Lady Anne Wake-Walker was President of the Society for most of the time from it's inception to the early 1990's. Her daughter Diana MacFarlane is the present President.
Membership numbers currently stand at around 20, some of whom live in East Bergholt and neighbouring villages and some of whom live in the nearby large town of Ipswich.
The group performs two plays each year; usually a comedy and a thriller. Most of the plays are modern, and in April 1993, the group performed the world premiere of "Will You Still Love Me In The Morning" to a packed house. We were delighted to have the author, Brian Clemens, in the audience. Brian is better known to British audiences as the script writer for the TV shows "The Professionals" and "Bugs".
For the Millennium we performed an enormously successful run of “Stepping Out” by Richard Harris from 19th to 24th June 2000 as part of East Bergholt's Celebrations. Profits from the play were donated to the village's Millennium Projects Fund.
We also take part in the Brantham Play Festival most years, and have been very successful, taking Best Production, Best Actor and Best Actress in 2004 and 2005, along with Best Director in 2004 and Best Costumes in 2005. In 2006, the group took Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Production, Best Director (shared with the MAD Theatre Company), Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Finally, 2007 saw the group taking Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Director.
The group meet most Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Constable Memorial Hall, Gandish Road, East Bergholt, Suffolk, either in the Hall itself or in the adjoining Benneworth lounge, from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
New members are always welcome. We are a friendly bunch who enjoy getting together for meals out, theatre visits and quiz nights.
If you would like to join us and participate either on stage or backstage, or if you would just like to make a comment about any of the plays you may have seen, please email us at :-
For more local information about East Bergholt, click here.