The Early Years
Early 1980s Dubai was different from the Dubai of today. With little TV or travelling shows, local residents of 40 years ago found their own entertainment in dinner parties and fancy dress soirées. Enter two companies (both alike in dignity) — the Dubai Players and the Sharjah Singers (tbc) — who pooled their resources in late 1984 to form Dubai Drama Group, a theatre company of likeminded people whose lofty aim was to entertain the local community through putting on excellent theatre.
The Original Venue: The British Council
The first production of the newly formed Dubai Drama Group was the Christmas pantomime, Aladdin, to be held at the British Council by Maktoum Bridge. The response was extraordinary. As well as having a full house, the community came together to sew costumes, paint flats, rig lights and move sets. Over the next 13 years, the British Council would be the venue for all productions, many of which would run for 10 shows at full capacity of 200 seats. But the highlight of the year – and indeed a red letter day in the Dubai calendar – remained the Christmas panto, for which tickets (on sale at Spinney’s) would be sold out by lunchtime!
The Move to the Country (Club)
In 1996, following the British Council’s decision to redevelop its stage into classrooms, Dubai Drama Group found its new home at the Country Club. Founded in 1971 on land at Ras Al Khor which was gifted by the late ruler, Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Country Club was the first golf club in the region, the first host of the Dubai Rugby 7s, and the only watering hole in town! There wasn’t much there: scaffolding had to be erected for each production, backstage was an adjacent classroom, and scenery storage was “out back”; imagination was a must! But, for over a decade, the sports hall of the Country Club was the home of Dubai Drama Group.
Homeless and Happy
In 2007, the Country Club was closed as part of the Meydan redevelopment, and Dubai Drama Group became homeless. Since then, the choice of venue has depended on the demands of the production — and of course the theatre spaces available. Over the last 13 years Dubai Drama Group has produced plays at numerous venues: DUCTAC, The Courtyard Playhouse and The Junction (all of which were founded by former committee members) the JamJar; Souq Madinat Jumeirah; Jebel Ali Village; the Hyatt Regency Disco; even the grounds of Bur Dubai Fort. The list continues to grow…
Back to the Future?
As Dubai has expanded, modernised and professionalised, so have its theatre groups. Then we put on pantos in a refurbished sports hall; now we have a choice of professional-grade theatres for our Pinter, our Ayckbourn, our Shakespeare. Then we were the only game in town; now we admire and compete with numerous other local theatre groups. And then we had a captive audience of entertainment-starved expats; now Dubai residents have a world of choice at their fingertips. This evolution, driven by changes in our emirate home, will continue apace. What will remain unchanged is Dubai Drama Group’s commitment to its founding ethos: to entertain the community by producing excellent theatre.