Exhibition reveals dramas of Rustington Players’ long history

And now that remarkable record of entertaining audiences across more than nine decades is receiving recognition at another village institution, the Rustington Museum.

Props, including a false beard and nose, a tape recorder used to provide sound effects and photos of past productions are among the items on display.

The curtain first went up for the Rustington Players Amateur Dramatic Society in 1921, when three one-act plays were presented in an old temporary hall in Church Road.

It was another three years before the first full-length, three-act play was performed, but the policy of presenting a triple-bill of one-act plays continued until 1927, when the Players staged Noel Coward’s I’ll Leave It to You.

From 1930 onwards, all the major productions have been resented as three act plays, ranging from popular classics to more challenging works.

The Players moved to a new home at the Sports Hall in Bushby Avenue, in 1929, but a disastrous fire in 1934 prevented any further productions for five years, until the present village hall, the Woodland Centre, became available.

The first production at the new venue was Winter Sunshine, in 1939, but the outbreak of war that year led to productions being suspended until Ladies in Retirement opened the new season in 1946. The play was subsequently presented by the Players at Ford Naval Air Station, too.

The post-war years saw the group back in its stride until 1952, when there was a short break in productions owing to a “shortage of men”.

For the past half-century, the Players’ season has featured three major productions each year. For a number of years,

“Green Room” evenings were also held, providing an evening of one-act plays, revues, old-time music hall and other forms of entertainment for members and friends.

These evenings were discontinued some years ago, mainly due to the problem of finding directors and casts, but live on in the form of social evenings, which are held on the third Friday of each month, except when there is a production.

The Players’ next production is Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Val Daly, and runs at the Woodland Centre from March 13-16.

The museum exhibition continues until mid-April.