60yrs of RoCo
In 2023 we celebrated our 60th Anniversary!
In November 2023 RoCo staged a pantomime production, The Return Of The Ring, to mark 60yrs since the dramatic society's founding. Longtime RoCo members Sheila Telfer and Jill Marston, got together to write about the history of the society for inclusion in the programme, which you can read below;
A History Of RoCo
by Jill Marston and Sheila Telfer
RoCo Dramatic Society was born in 1963 as the long-held dream of Dorothy Tillison, wife of Rev Geoffrey Tillison who was minister of the church which would later become known as St Andrew’s United Reformed Church. At that time, however, it was known as Roundhay Congregational Church from which (after much debate) RoCo was eventually named. Donations to enable the start-up were received from interested parties in the church and a stage was built in preparation for the first production, Mystery at Greenfingers by JB Priestley. Since then, with only a few exceptions, RoCo has continued to stage a spring and autumn production each year. In the last 20 years Murder Mysteries have become a popular summer addition to our repertoire and have often been written by very talented RoCo members.
But back to the early days. In the 1960’s the audience sat, possibly not over-comfortably, on brown canvas tubular chairs. In those days many audience members smoked and people remember watching the plays through a thick haze of smoke! John Burgess, who provided light and sound for productions for 40 years recalls how required emergency lighting was provided by deploying nightlights in saucers of water! Stewards, always male, wore full dinner suits and boxes of chocolates were sold from velvet covered shelving in the alcove in the hall, which later became the Toddler toy store and Scout cupboard. All lighting and sound effects were managed from a gantry above this area. Participants, whether actors or backstage crew, were all drawn from the congregation, but in the 1970’s St Edmund’s Players, another local church dramatic company closed and a significant number of their group joined RoCo becoming core members. From then RoCo started attracting new members from the community.
In the late 1980’s Sheila Telfer and Andrea Varnavides formed Junior RoCo which ran for many years and performed several plays for children in front of families and friends. After “resting” for a few years the group was re-formed by Emma-Jane Greenstead and the late, great Pete Grocock. Subsequently leaders included Lorna McGarvie and Faye Henderson then, after another break, the latest incarnation of Junior RoCo came about in January this year when Alice Rayner, inspired by her mother’s earlier example, revived the group along with Mary Shalvey and Lloyd Coulson. It has been a delight to have them involved in this latest production.
RoCo has performed a wide variety of plays over the years, including comedies, thrillers and classics. Our first Pantomime, CinderRoCo, was in 1987 and featured the minister at the time (David Miller) as an ugly sister. History repeats itself this week! Several other pantomimes were to follow, almost all written by Sheila and with lyrics by Andrea, We miss Andrea greatly. Her involvement with the group was immense and the memorable phrase: “she is like a stick of rock with RoCo written right through it” sums up her dedication to the group. How she would have loved to be involved in this production of The Return of the Ring!
In the late 1980’s St Andrew’s had dabbled in the production of a couple of Christian musicals, performed mainly by children in the sanctuary, and the next logical step was to involve RoCo in more ambitious productions of Roger Jones musicals and then in two “home grown” Christian musicals with the church’s musical director, Una Robertson, providing original musical scores.
These proved popular and the next step was to mount productions of Oliver! and then The Sound of Music, with each production becoming a little more ambitious. Hence the decision to stage The Return of the Ring in the sanctuary which gives more scope for the cast and crew to make it a memorable production. With the number of performers on stage and so many talented youngsters amongst them this week, we can say with confidence that the future looks bright for RoCo.
Every generation of RoCo has had its own heroes, sung and unsung, and we would like to pay tribute to them all, especially those who have served on the Committee, keeping the society running, planning and organising, ensuring that plays are chosen, producers found and casting completed, as well as arranging social events and keeping a pastoral eye on all its members.
Finally RoCo wishes to thank St Andrew’s for generously allowing us the use of the building and its facilities and for the continued support of Minister (our President), Elders, members and friends. We are truly grateful.
Happy 60th Birthday RoCo!​​​​​​​
A Letter From The RoCo Committee Chair
by Jill Marston
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this performance of The Return of the Ring. This is a very special time for RoCo as we celebrate our Diamond Anniversary. Yes - RoCo’s first production was in 1963 and what better way to mark 60 years of our Amateur Dramatic Society at St Andrew’s than with a Pantomime!
We wanted to involve as many people as possible to help celebrate this landmark occasion and I am delighted to say that not only are current members of RoCo and Junior RoCo taking part, but we have also been able to persuade some “old faces” to get on stage again to join the fun.
The RoCo legacy is a strong one and you can read some of its history later in the programme. It is wonderful to report that there are people in the audience now who were very involved in RoCo’s earliest productions and are still loyal supporters all these years on.
We like to think of RoCo as a family – one that crosses generations and has a lot of fun together. In this production we have an age range of 8-80’s which makes it very special. As with all families, RoCo members have different skills and interests, whether they enjoy being actors, musicians, playwrights, set builders, artists, technicians or general helpers. Everyone has an important part to play in RoCo’s life.
We’re enjoying celebrating sixty amazing years for RoCo and now we look forward with great excitement to what the future will bring. We are sure great times are ahead and we hope that whether you would be interested in an acting or backstage role we can enthuse you to join Team RoCo and become part of its future. If you would like to become involved in anyway please contact us.
But for now sit back, relax, get ready with your cheers and boos and enjoy The Return of the Ring. Long Live RoCo!
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