Wyong Drama Group History
Amateur dramatics go back a long way in the Wyong Shire, with the first
recorded performance of the twentieth century taking place on 27th July 1907.
Staged by the Wyong Musical and Dramatic Association it took place in the local
School of Arts hall. According to a review in the local press "the
programme was an attractive one and its production marks the newly formed
association with a success."
In 1921 the Wyong Famous Players presented The Outcast and the local
press were happy to publish that "though a somewhat shortness of notice and
for other reasons, the hall was not as full as one would have liked to see, but
this fact had a decided set-off in the appreciation shown by those who were
privileged to witness what was universally considered a very excellent
production."
The Wyong Drama Group began in 1952 with Charity Begins staged in the
Astra Theatre (a handsome Art Deco cinema demolished sadly in 1973) followed in
1953 by Hay Fever at the "old" Wyong Memorial Hall and Candied
Peel at the School of the Arts. From 1955, productions were mounted in the
Wyong Youth Hall in Hely Street. At this venue the group encountered many
distractions, including stiff competition from the nightly departure at nearby
Wyong railway station of the 9.00pm steam train. As if its loud puffing wasn't
enough to drown out the dialogue, actors also had to contend with a colony of
operatic frogs that lived in the dampness under the hall and also the din made
on the corrugated iron roof when it poured with rain!
In 1965 the group moved to the "new" Wyong Memorial Hall and staged
their first play in this hall, Murder Mistaken.
Wyong Drama Group has attended many theatrical festivals around New South
Wales and won many awards in all categories.
Since 1987, the group has held an annual Bush Bash, comprising a dinner, a
one act play and a bush dance.
Since 1952 the group has presented over 145 productions. They have played in
a variety of venues, including the Astra Theatre, the Masonic Hall, the Youth
Hall and Old Bakery in Wyong, as well as Laycock Street Theatre in Gosford. But
the majority of the productions have been staged at the Wyong Memorial Hall,
where they have made their home in the Green Room at the back of the hall.
with kind permission of Ian Hawkins, author of: Curtain Up - 100 years of
Amateur Theatre on the Central Coast of New South Wales
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