A SHORT HISTORY OF KIPPAX DRAMATIC SOCIETY (KDS)

The original Kippax Amateur Dramatic Society was formed on 16 January 1945 and its first production was ‘The Rotters’ by H Maltby, the performances taking place in the Leeds Road Methodist School, Kippax.

Over the next few years the society went from strength to strength, playing in various venues – until on 16 January, 1960 the KADS officially opened their very own little theatre with ‘The Town That Would Have a Pageant’ by L Du Garde Peach. The members of the society had literally built this theatre with their own hands. They transformed an American ex-army hut into a cosy and intimate theatre of thirty five seats, having raised the money by holding social events and from the proceeds of their productions. The hut was originally intended to serve as the KADS venue for ten years – in the event, it wasn’t demolished until 1997. But ‘The Little Theatre’ is still fondly remembered by many Kippax residents.

At that point, the society was disbanded, but then in 2005 – sixty years after the original KADS was formed - a few former members decided it was time Kippax had a theatre group again and launched Kippax Dramatic Society with ‘Suspended Sentence’ a play specially written by a member of the group. In the absence of their own premises this, and all subsequent productions, took place in St Mary’s Hall, Kippax .

In 2012 KDS, at the request of St Mary's Church Committee, gave its first Murder Mystery performance in St Mary's Church Hall. This Murder Mystery had been purchased and required a great deal of amending before we considered it of sufficient quality to perform before the public, even though we thought at the time that this was a one-off event.

However the evening proved such a success that we decided to do another one the following year, this time written by a member of the Society, and the rest, as they say, is history. The popularity of these Murder Mystery evenings continues to grow, and over the years we have been approached by various groups and organizations asking us to perform for them. We now entertain at several regular venues in and around the area.

The society now enjoys a reputation for professional standard productions and regularly plays to full houses. Members also enjoy many social events, including theatre trips, quizzes, treasure hunts, barbecues and an annual dinner.