A short history of Colchester Operatic Society
In a small room in Colchester Town Hall in 1924, a group of businessmen met to form an organisation, which has developed into an integral part of the local community, run by a diverse group of volunteers and is now celebrating 100 Years. It began its existence as Colchester Amateur Operatic Society, before becoming known as Colchester Operatic Society (or COS for short), and from the beginning was an enormous success.
The first production was Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘The Gondoliers’, staged at The Hippodrome Theatre in Colchester’s High Street. The Essex County Telegraph reported in kindly terms on its reception, saying that “it must be remembered it was being performed by amateurs”! We are happy to report that the Society receives much more glowing reviews today!
In 1938 we produced our last show before the Second World War interrupted production, and it was 7 years before the Society returned to annual performances.
With the end of the war, the Society lost no time in getting back into production, now at The Old Repertory Theatre. In 1947 ‘Tom Jones’ was the first show to be performed by the Society at The Playhouse in St Johns Street, where we stayed until 1973. Increasingly ambitious shows were staged during this time, and several plays were introduced.
As time went on, The Hippodrome became a popular nightclub and The Playhouse became a pub, as such the Society had to develop as well. In 1973 the Society moved to its current performance venue, The Mercury Theatre, a professional performance venue with a 500 seat capacity. Once again the reputation of the Society was enhanced as we performed such classics as ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, ‘The King and I’ and ‘Hello Dolly’, with the demand for tickets regularly exceeding the number of seats available.
The costs of staging productions have escalated enormously from our humble beginnings, and whilst we once spent £700 per show, decades later the Society spends a great deal more on each show, nearing £100,000 for a big production! As you would expect from an increased budget, the standards of performance have also risen significantly, with the appointment of professional directors, musicians and musical directors.
As well as our main shows, over the years the Society has also produced a number of spring/summer concerts, and many local charities benefit enormously from these efforts. Many of these concerts are shown at another well-known Colchester venue; The Headgate Theatre.
In 1984, Colchester Operatic Second Edition (CO2) was formed to mount shows of greater interest to the younger members of the society, and appeal to a wider range of audiences, In the Autumn of that year ‘Grease’ was presented at the Essex University Theatre. CO2 has continued to grow in popularity over the years, proving that there is a wealth of talent amongst Colchester’s youngsters – with over 130 young people now auditioning for our CO2 shows! CO2 now perform shows annually at The Mercury Theatre.
In 2019, the Mercury Theatre closed for renovations and Colchester Operatic Society joined forces with the team at the Mercury Theatre to produce “Oliver!”, which was performed in a large purpose built theatre tent on Abbeyfields. Following this, productions were briefly stopped by the COVID pandemic. However, we used the time to improve our governance, whilst connecting through online choir rehearsals and producing two online streamed concerts. We returned to the Mercury theatre in 2022 with our production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and in May 2022 COS proudly became a registered charity (number:1198865) , allowing us to continue putting on great shows for the public benefit of our local community
From our “amateur” beginnings in 1924, COS and CO2 now receive rave reviews from our audiences, have won many awards for our productions and continue to enjoy a fantastic reputation for producing high-quality musical theatre.
Our Logos
The first CO2 logo was designed for its inception in 1984 and their first production, Grease, by one of our past members, Michael Hemstedt, who was working as a designer for a local advertising agency, as well as serving on the CO2 committee, at the time. COS had no logo of its own until 1991, when Michael was then asked to design one. He took the opportunity to update the CO2 logo, in order to create two cohesive images, both of which we still use today.
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