Our History

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.

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.