Oxford audiences have enjoyed many performances by professional actors and actresses at the New Theatre and the Playhouse over the years.
But there have also been many polished productions by amateur groups, including members of the City of Oxford Theatre Guild.
They feature in Picture 1 as they prepared for a 10-day run of Shakespeare’s evergreen comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor, in 1987.
Others in the picture are John Pill (Bardolph), Peter Motley (Pistol), Rozz McDonald (Robin) and Dick Russell (Host).
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Some thought Peter Bowers, in Picture 2, should have looked happier, with leading ladies on either side. Peter, Michele Hickman, left, and Rosemary Taylor were starring in South Oxford Drama Association’s production of Noel Coward’s black comedy, Blithe Spirit.
The play, directed by Mark Emanuel, was performed at South Oxford community centre in Lake Street on two nights in 1982.
There was courtroom drama at a production by Oxford Operatic Youth Theatre at Magdalen College School in 1988.
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Jonathan Russell, the judge, Clare Denton, the plaintiff, and Mark Hoffman, the defendant, are seen in Picture 3 at rehearsals.
Thirty youngsters, aged 11 to 18, were taking part in a full production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury.
Disabled patients at the Ritchie Russell unit at the Churchill Hospital, Oxford, many in wheelchairs, formed their own drama group. In 1980, they staged their first ambitious productions - a mummers’ play and Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.
Terry Sinneott, the devil, right, is seen in Picture 4 with Jeanette Mills during rehearsals.
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North Oxford Junior Dramatic Society took over Wolvercote village hall for its production of the hit musical, Bugsy Malone, in 1988.
Seen in Picture 5 at rehearsals are Andrew Cobb, who played Fat Sam, Tim Sale, as Bugsy Malone, and Fat Sam’s girlfriend Tallulah, played by Tabatha Marno.
Picture 6 show members of the Oxford Academy of Dramatic Art preparing for a production of the musical, Wizard of Oz, in 1987, at the Co-op hall in Cowley Road.
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