FROM THEN TILL NOW

In 1959 Barbara Hill was asked to form a dramatic society to complement the, by then well established operatic society, which was the "in-house" society of steelmakers Thomas Firth and John Brown Limited.

Firth Brown, as it was more normally referred to, was, in those days, a huge company of over a hundred years standing whose works stretched the length and breadth of both Savile Street and Carlise Street.

Barbara, with a few like minded individuals, took on the job and became the societies’ first producer and chairperson and the Firth Brown Amateur Dramatic Society was born.

Its first two productions "Job for the Boy" and "Small Hotel" were presented at Burngreave Church Hall on Spital Hill with moderate success. However, it soon became clear that the venue was much too large for such a fledgling society and Barbara, who lived in the Crookes area of the city decided to perform the next production at a much smaller church hall which was near to her home on Slinn Street.

In 1960 the society upped sticks and moved out to the sticks, as it were, and there it stayed for many years gaining both in experience and reputation.

By 1969 the society had grown in membership and was performing two plays a year. Its reputation was such that there was no problem in filling seats and it tried, even in those early days, not to just concentrate on producing light comedies or farces but offer its audience the full spectrum of drama by including more serious plays into its repetoire.

During that year two big decisions were taken by the members of the society the first was to join the Sheffield and District Amateur Theatre Association (SADATA) the second was to move once more.

The Library Theatre situated right in the heart of the city beckoned and this time the move was far more dramatic and rather scary. We were still a small society, used to a very intimate church hall with an audience of people who were regulars but normally lived within a small area of Crookes. We were about to  take on a larger venue, situated right in the heart of Sheffield’s theatres, where much larger and more important societies also put on their plays. Worse still, some members feared that by moving to the city centre we would loose our "home" audience. Many a night of arguing the pros and cons took place before the decision was made.

Our opening production was J B Priestley’s wonderfully funny "When We Are Married" and this we followed with Emlyn Williams’s "Trespass" a much darker drama about spiritualism and deceit. We were fortunate in that first year to win an award from SADATA for "Trespass" but were so naïve that we did not even attend the ceremony to collect it. We assumed that being the new boys on the block we had no chance of an award.

From then we have never really looked back. In 1971 Barbara Hill got married and moved to Romford in Kent. The mantle of chairperson was put onto the shoulders of Michael Bullock where it sits to this day. In 1977 we parted company with our old founders Firth Brown and struck out on our own as the New Venture Players. This was another milestone as we had to find rehearsal rooms and a room to store our ever growing scenery and furniture. Moreover, at that time, in common with other societies, our membership was dwindling. The newly formed society consisted of four actors and three members of the backstage team and yet the first production "The Secretary Bird" by William Douglas Home won an award for best setting.

Despite all the trials and tribulations that befall all societies we are still going from strength to strength. Our society is still one of the smallest in the city but we believe that good things come in small parcels. Our policy is that everyone in our society is as important as everyone else. All our members are expected to get involved in each production whether they have a specific job or not. We blur the edges between back-stage and front-stage with members being willing to help in any department. We would never force anyone to "tread the boards" but feel that if they are willing then they should be given  friendly advice and training on a one-to-one basis. We still give our audiences a good rounded diet of both comedy and drama and we are noted for performing plays which are new to the amateur circuit. Some of our members have appeared regularly at the Lyceum and at both the Crucible Studio and Main House in both amateur and professional productions. We still regularly win awards, for the best play, the best producer, the best acting and the best set and our reputation is such that we are now considered to be one of the top five societies in Sheffield. Our motto, if we had one, would have to be "We never consider ourselves to be amateurs but merely professionals that do not get paid"