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Dramatics have long been an intrinsic part of life in Kilcock. Mr. Billy Byrne of the Square Bar (now the Gregory Tavern) and Mr. Tommy Lube were founder members of the first group to tread the boards in our town in the 1950's. This group of people came together to perform Pantomime, Variety Shows and Plays. Although, known officially as St. Brigid's Club it affectionately was known among its members and beyond as "The Puddin' Club”. The reason for this seems lost in the mists of time.
Many of the now older residents of the town were members of this group and have pleasant memories of their time on stage during this period. Indeed the names, Bright, Murphy, the Hynes Brothers, Danny Gleeson and Tommy Cleary were synonymous with this era of Dramatics in the town and their sons and daughters succeeded them to tread the boards.
This group was together until the mid 1960's, when the group disbanded.
However the lull was brief, and upon arrival of Fr. Phelan to the parish in 1970, the group was reformed and the Dramatic Society was founded.
Many of the original members, including local historian Kevin Lynch, joined this new group, together with new arrivals Marie Murphy, Dolores Reilly, Ann Cleary and Mrs. Bena Ruth.
These, among others, formed what was to become a strong thriving group.
This was the era of Variety and these shows are remembered with great affection. An tSuir Fionntain (Presentation Sisters, Kilcock) directed many plays and sketches during this period, while Tommy Cleary was the planner and builder of the stage in the Arcadia Hall. These shows toured around the local towns where great fun was had by all.
In the 1980's the club decided to change direction and head into Pantomime. A new venue had also been found and St. Joseph's Hall became the new home for the group. However a new stage had to be built and this was done by John Joe Reilly and his team of intrepid helpers. By 1985, the group had expanded to include many younger members and had great success when they reached the Semi Finals of the "John Player ShowTime Competition". Pantomime proved to be the mainstay of the group and a yearly Panto was performed until 1987.
In 1991, the society first branched into Musicals. It was the year of "Grease", marking the start of a new era in the history of K.M.D.S. Since then the Society has staged a Musical and a Pantomime every season. In 1998 we welcomed the return of the Play.
Since 1999, we have been honoured to receive multiple AIMS award nominations across various categories - and proud to have won many of them. You can view those nominations and awards here: AIMS Production Awards. Great achievements for our community group!
St. Joseph’s Hall served as the society’s home until 2018, after which it became the home of the wonderful Rye River Café – well worth a visit! Since 2019, we’ve been delighted to partner with Kilcock GAA as our venue for staging productions.
We had hoped to celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2020, but the global pandemic brought our plans - and productions - to a halt for a couple of seasons, as it did for so many others around the world. However, we made our return to the stage in 2022 with The Wedding Singer - a joyful, fun, and vibrant way to come back!
We are incredibly proud to carry on the rich tradition of entertaining the people of Kilcock. With a membership spanning ages 11 to 74, we’re confident our founding members would be proud of how far we’ve come. As we celebrate 55 wonderful years, we feel truly fortunate - and look forward to many more years to come!
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