Drama seen on and off the stage in 100 year run for Narrogin Repertory Club

With its centenary celebrations cut short last year because of the COVID pandemic, the Narrogin Repertory Club is celebrating its 101st year with a show about an amateur theatre club’s survival.

The Fat Lady Sings in Little Grimley is a play about four plucky members of an amateur dramatic society and their quest for survival when a rival club threatens its existence.

Survival is a theme for the club, on and off the stage. Ilario Da Silva, director and performer in the show, said the club had endured much over its time.

“Just thinking of all the things that have happened over all those years; World War II, they were just coming off the First World War, there was the Spanish flu,” he said.

“They were relying on community members ... so things like wars, like droughts, all those things would have impacted on members and how many people were taking part in that.

“We started production on a play right at the beginning of 2020 which had to be cancelled at the start of lockdown, so nothing was performed last year.

“(In Fat Lady Sings in Little Grimley) there’s lots of little bits in the play which happen in real life and in real clubs ... lots of things ring true to what happens in reality.”

Set to be performed at Thornton Theatre with performances from September 9-11 and September 16-18, the play is a chance for people to enjoy a night out with echoes of history.

Opening night is almost sold out and Da Silva said it was the hard work of people behind the scenes that kept the club’s shows going strong.

“That a club has stood for 100 years is in itself already a great achievement,” he said.

“Of course it’s hard work behind stage; there's lots of people involved to make it all work but we all enjoy it and we're really happy to keep doing it.”

For bookings, visit try bookings.com or Arts Narrogin.