Series 28 - The Lady Margaret Players

The Lady Margaret Players is a College amateur dramatic society which was formed early in the Lent Term 1949, out of those associated with a production of T.S. Eliot's 'Murder in the Cathedral', in the College Chapel at Christmas 1948. Its original purpose was primarily to provide a niche for medieval and modern religious drama - perceived as inadequately catered for in the University dramatic scene. It was also hoped to attract Johnian thespians lured by the bright lights of University dramatic clubs to a specifically College society which they could consider their own: and to exploit the resources of some of the unproduced plays lying in the recesses of the College Library. The religious plays would be produced each December in the Chapel, the unsung examples of the Art during May Week. It was also hoped that Johnians would write new plays for future production.
Among the members of the founding committee were Frank Thistlethwaite, Fellow and Tutor, an historian and economist, Peter Gardom Croft (B.A.1948), who read English and went on to be ordained in the Church of England, John Boyd Denson (B.A.1949) who pursued a career in the diplomatic service, and Michael William Stephens (B.A.1948), who joined the BBC.
After the inaugurating production of 'Murder in the Cathedral', the society presented in May Week 1949 in the Fellows' Garden, an abridgement of three comedies, 'Parnassus', written and first performed by members of the College between 1598 and 1602. It thus revived the tradition of College drama which had flourished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, following it up in May Week 1951with 'The Humorous Lovers' by William Cavendish Duke of Newcastle (M.A.1608). In the early years the Christian commitment of the society continued to be apparent, with such productions as 'Christ's Comet' - about the Epiphany - by Christopher Hassall in 1949, and 'The Zeal of Thy House' by Dorothy L. Sayers, in 1950. Its activity now covers a wide variety of plays ancient and modern.

NOTE: the information above is drawn partly from The Eagle, Vol. LIII, 1948-9, p.201, and partly from a donation to the College of programmes and other material about the Society from Peter Croft, in 1996.