Our history
Entertaining audiences since 1936
Pinner Players was founded in 1936, in the heyday of Amateur Dramatics in Britain.
Our aim then, as it is now, was to perform plays of the highest quality for the local community at an affordable price.
The company has survived changes in culture, leisure activity and venue and continues to attract members and audiences. Despite the evolutions of television, cinema, the internet and the pace of modern life we continue to go from strength to strength.
A brief history
The company was originally called The Popular Players but soon changed its name to The Pinner Players Amateur Dramatic Society.
The Popular Players began life in the old Vagabonds Hall, which used to be on Eastcote Road. We then changed our name and venue to the Greenwood Hall in Pinner and then St Anselm’s church hall in Hatch End before finally settling in Pinner Village Hall in 1982 where it opened with ‘Ten Times Table’.
The first season in 1936 included ‘The Second Visit’ and ‘Check to the King’ and we closed for the war years in 1940 with ‘Quiet Wedding’.
In 1944 we opened with ‘Charity Begins’ and have performed three plays nearly every year since, in November, February and May.
Our plays have ranged from drama to comedy, farce to musical, thriller to pastiche and have included authors from Shakespeare to Sondheim, Simon to Stoppard, Miller to O’Malley and Anouilh to Ayckbourn.
We marked the millennium by performing plays taken from the ‘most significant plays of the last 100 years’, as described by the National Theatre. We staged Terry Pratchett’s Maskerade in 2001. In 2009, we succeeded in staging Michael Frayn’s brilliant comedy ‘Noises Off’, which was initially designed for a far bigger stage than ours.
In 1998, our name changed once more to Pinner Players Theatre Company.
We are also proud to have had local and theatrical connections; our first president was the late Hugh McDermott. In 1966, Bob Holness, an up-and-coming young television personality, was asked to take over as president. He and his wife Mary were staunch supporters and fans ever since – even performing in a couple of the music halls. Bob sadly died in 2012 and Mary in 2020.
Recently we have performed ‘Albion’ by Mike Bartlett and Amanda Whittington’s ‘Ladies’ Day’.
If you’ve ever been tempted to take part in a play, it’s never too late to start. Click here to find out about joining us.
