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Kilcock Musical and Dramatic Society
Dramatics have long been an intrinsic part of life in Kilcock. Mr. Billy Byrne of the Square Bar and Mr. Tommy Lube were founder members of the first group to tread the boards in our
town in the 1950's. This group of people came together to perform Pantomime, Variety Shows and Plays. Although, known officially as St.
Brigid's Club it affectionately was known among its members and beyond as "The Puddin' Club.
The reason for this seems lost in the mists of time :-)
Many of the now older residents of the town were members of this group and have pleasant memories of their time on stage during this period. Indeed the names, Bright, Murphy, the Hynes Brothers,
Danny Gleeson and Tommy Cleary were synonymous with this era of Dramatics in the town and their sons and daughters succeeded them to tread the boards.
This group were together until the mid 1960's, when the group disbanded.
However the lull was brief, and upon arrival of Fr. Phelan (who died in 2000) to the parish in 1970, the group was reformed and the Dramatic Society was founded. Many of the original members,
including local historian Kevin Lynch, joined this new group, together with new arrivals Marie Murphy, Dolores Reilly, Ann Cleary and Mrs. Bena Ruth.
These, among others, formed what was to become a strong thriving group.
This was the era of Variety and these shows are remembered with great affection. An tSuir Fionntain directed many plays and Sketches during this period, while Tommy Cleary was the
planner and builder of the stage in the Arcadia Hall. These shows toured around the local towns where great fun was had by all.
In the 1980's the club decided to change direction and head into Pantomime. A new venue had also been found and St. Joseph's Hall became the new home for the
group, and still is today. However a new stage had to be built and this was done by John Joe
Reilly and his team of intrepid helpers. By 1985, the group had expanded to include many younger members and
had great success when they reached the Semi Finals of the "John Player ShowTime
Competition". Pantomime proved to be the mainstay of the group and a yearly Panto was performed until 1987.
In 1991, the society first branched into Musicals. It was the year of "Grease", and the start of a new era in the history of K.M.D.S. Since then the Society has staged
11 Musicals, 6 pantomimes and since 1998 we also stage a play each year.
1999 brought further success when we won our first A.I.M.S award and were
awarded runner up in the best-set category. In 2000 we won the A.I.M.S. award
for Best Actor further adding to our collection of silverware - what a night
that was!!!!!
In 2001 and 2002 we were awarded nine more nominations - winning Best
Director and Best Actor awards amongst others. A great achievement for our small
group! In April 2003 Sweeney Todd' was staged. This was hugely a successful show that
gathered 8 nominations and won the prestigious Best Show award!
How proud we are to continue with such a great tradition of entertaining the
people of Kilcock, and I'm sure our founding members would be very proud of us today.
We certainly count ourselves lucky to have had over 39 wonderful years in existence and long may it continue.
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