It’s been an exciting year for the Savoy Opera Society who are celebrating their 50th birthday and have now taken on the title of the oldest society on campus. I sat down with members, Katie Dale and Will Davidson to find out just what it is about the society that has made it so popular all these years.
Katie: Opera can be a scary word, but we’re more than just that.
Will: We’re a really friendly and open community, a family. Our society is made up of people studying a range of degrees; we even had a member of staff perform in Pirates of Penzance.
They describe the past struggles the society faced in securing its future, and give credit to an influx of first year members in making a massive impact on the success it has seen this year.
Will: We’ve taken big leaps and strides this year alone.
The recent Pirates of Penzance was peformed to a sold out audience and the society was nominated for most improved at the Socs Ball. They told me of the diversity of the pieces peformed such as Anything Goes which Katie explained was out of the box and unlike anything they had done before. This new style brought in new members and allowed for people who otherwise may not have got involved.
Katie: Not everyone comes in loving opera…
Will: But I think people are pleasantly surprised by our lighthearted approach.
Katie: Many of our pieces are highly comical and fun to perform.
Will: I think a really big thing for us is creating links with other societies, particularly performing arts. Royal Holloway has such a strong performing arts scene and we make the effort to go and see the events put on by other societies.
They praised First Year actor and director, Monte Marche and Katie spoke to me about the freshers concerts held within the first two weeks of term as a chance to inspire and entice new members right away.
Will: Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be selecting our new show, and as always there will be a big push towards getting new members.
Katie: We’re just going to keep on building, and hopefully we’ll still be here in another 50 years!
Find the RHUL Savoy Opera society on Facebook to keep up to date with events and contact [email protected] if you want to be involved.