The Dramatic Legacy of the Roscian Players

It is in the clubs and societies you will find the palpable nucleus of student life. As students in an environment that persistently produces information overload, clubs and socs allow us to take a breather from the academic madness and to further explore our own interests, oftentimes reigniting a dormant passion. For me, that passion was revived by the Drama Society or more formally known as the Roscian Players.

Before starting college in Maynooth, I had a moderate amount of drama experience. I joined the local Speech and Drama club and acted in it for a couple of years until it began to fizzle out as I grew interested in sport. However, drama always stuck with me in my subconscious even as an audience member. Taking that idle desire to act again when I started at Maynooth University and learning that my dad (from whom I get my grá for drama) was a long-standing member, I decided to join the Drama Soc with equal apprehension and ambition. I stepped out of my comfort zone and back into the stage lights for the first time since childhood in an English Department production supported by the Drama Soc called Hic et Ubique last year. This play was for the PhD project of Alan Waldron, from whom you will hear later. An Early Modern Irish play from the 17th century that explored the notion of what it means to be Irish. Our production was the very first staging of the play and a lot of our cast including myself, had little to no drama experience. Ironically, the introduction of this play to the world marked my reacquaintance with theatre.

But enough about me! I sat down with current members, a PhD student, and my dad, who thrived on the Aula stage as a student in the late 80s. Through these voices, this article will spotlight the creative community that the Drama Society continues to nourish decades after my father’s time.

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Rebecca McCarthy, Chairperson of the Drama Soc

At the end of last year, you were elected president. Could you tell me what your role as the head of the society will entail?

Rebecca: So, my role is to keep the society running. […] We have weekly meetings and it's my job to organise an agenda. [...] I work with all my other members to make sure whatever events we have are being put on and organised. I [also] act as a guiding hand for our new First Year Rep. I'm teaching her what it is about the committee so that whenever it's my time to leave, that there's still people who'll be behind to run it next year.

What are your goals as President this year for the society?

Rebecca: My main goal would just be to create a very open and friendly environment [...] I would like everyone to come and have a safe environment and a fun environment to come every week. Just get to know people, have a bit of a laugh.

Claire Scofield, Productions Officer

What did you learn from the experience of acting in an original play of the Drama Society?

Claire: The director and writer has written that play, but then they [discuss] what they want with the actors, and then it becomes everyone's play because everyone is being involved to make it what they thought would be the most impactful on the audience. Everyone has made up their own backgrounds of their characters and we spent so much time on it that we've really grown attached to them.

What are your goals within the society this year?

Claire: For everything that is regarding Productions Officer, I would really love it if we could have more elaborate sets. I know it's difficult […] but we're two of us now. So, we can maybe divide and conquer. Because I've seen since COVID that there's really a loss of sets. […] It would be great if we could bring a little bit of colour to our shows. […] If we could involve the actors in the plays so that they can come for sessions and build their own sets and do it as well. And we'll see if it's possible, but it would be nice.

We know that Debs, One Acts and Black Box are the society's main events of the year. In what ways do these festivals support students and what do they reveal to you about the community created in the college?

Claire: [it’s a] huge boost of confidence for every student involved in the plays and the shows and in between the members, it really builds a community because they have to help each other backstage. They have to help each other to remember their lines, to keep the stress of being on stage to a down low and they have to be together to build a show that brings a wow to the audience. I think it really shows to the university and people that are outside of drama that we are amateurs. We do not have a drama section in the university, and yet we're doing so much by ourselves, and it really shows that if you want it, you can do it.

Alan Waldron, PhD Student and Director of Hic et Ubique

How did the Drama Society support with the production of your play?

Alan: The other people who are in the society who weren't part of it but came to the performance, their presence there really [showed] how generous they were in supporting the production, their friends and by extension me […] It was great because it lifted the entire audience that came to see it because I've been a part of other productions where that hasn't had that sense of community to it. […] That sense of community and togetherness really helped define what Hic became.

As a director reflecting on the evolution of your cast from the auditions to show night, what changes did you notice the most? Or which stood out in the cast members that had little to no drama experience?

Alan: The sense of ownership that they took by the end of it, and that was applicable to everybody.

The other thing was the sense of camaraderie that you all built up with me and with each other, and with the wider drama society like Jule and Jonathan who are creating the extra bits. Seeing that evolution, the people who might have had more experience in drama, they never tried to take the spotlight away from everyone. There were so generous […] It was always, “How can we help the ensemble”? […] Whatever about the research, whatever about the performance, those are the things that I always love to see. […] If Hic has no other legacy than those moments […] that's good, that's all I want.

It was just great to see that nobody came in with all of these pretensions and tried to dominate the proceedings because I've seen that happen before. […] It’s a true testament to the ethos of the Drama Society.

What did this play in conjunction with the society’s support reveal to you about the community created within the College at Maynooth?

Alan: It's an interesting one because us PhD students are somewhat divorced from the rest of the student population. And then we also kind of forget that in some ways, we're also somewhat divorced from each other, so we don't quite get to see the networks that exist around us.

Thankfully, there are moves afoot from various peoples within different faculties to address that kind of sense of isolation that we have. But for me and I guess other people, my PhD peers who came to the show either as a part of the production and the ones who came to view it, there is a sense of community here, in the drama society specifically from what we can see but also around that.

It's not just everyone siloed off in their own community. People want to work with each other to develop the student connections. […] Whatever about anything else that's happening around the university, and we can't ignore the things that are happening around student experience, but it suggests that there is an interconnectedness within the student body that is there and could be developed further, so that's quite exciting.

Why do you think clubs and societies are important for college students?

Alan: Well, they're super important. […] ‘No man is an island’ is the saying and clubs and societies are a great way for people to dip their toe in. […] It allows you to meet other people, to make up friendship networks and ultimately, they're going to be your support networks […] Coming towards exam time and you have a lot of stress […] you need to be able to have people to turn to in those moments. You need to have creative outlets or whatever that may be.

[…] Who knows, it could very well be the case that it's something that you want to pursue further as you go on. […] And for people like yourself who are taking on the roles that you're taking on, you build up transferable skills. When you get that piece of paper, and you go into the workforce, what else can you offer? Because thousands of people graduate with BA degrees every year. What is distinctive about those graduates is what they have done outside of their core subjects. Clubs and societies, being a part of it is so enriching and can make the differences when you go on to bigger and better things, whatever they may be.

Ciara Shiel, Drama Soc Member

As a consistent attendee of the weekly workshops on Monday evening, could you describe what typically goes on within the hour every week?

Ciara: [The workshops] would be hosted by someone in drama society, usually member of committee. And there will be a theme like love [for] Valentine's Day […] I remember we were doing a lot of little games about love, like funny pick-up lines, improv based on love like a first date, an anniversary. The weekly workshops were chilled because they weren't working towards something, so they could just be fun. […] So, everyone could get involved really because some people might have more demanding courses in college and wouldn't be able to do the Black Box plays or to do the longer plays that the Drama Society write and produce. So, it was nice, especially for those people to be able to do that, you know, you could all do it as well.

With your experience so far in college drama how would you sell the society to a first year or anyone rather thinking of joining the society?

Ciara: It's a very diverse society in the sense if you want to give it your all and perform and audition for every single play or you want to write loads of scripts, you want to do the lighting, you want to be in charge of costumes, you can do that, or you can simply just attend on Monday. There's no obligation […] which is good, because I think that's what puts people off joining some societies. But then from my course you can take a module in script writing so some people who take that [could] apply the skills they learn from script writing to writing scripts for drama. […] It's just a very open society, you feel really at ease.

As a spectator of all the festivals last year and observing the cooperation between each cast and crew, what insights did you gain from community created within college?

Ciara: It does show great teamwork, especially because in a way, plays are kind of projects. You're writing scripts, in the beginning so you’re planning and then you’re getting the props and set ready, costumes, makeup. It's like helping prep for a project like doing your research, making sure you have all your materials and executing it. Then after, you can [assess] what would I have done better, and you can apply that for the next play. […] No information you learn or no skills you learn in drama are redundant. They’re either going to help you in the future, in drama, or they're going to help you in life.

Adam Cullen, Productions Officer

How did the Drama Society effect your first year of college?

Adam: I joined it quite early in first year and I found it quite quickly became a thing I considered in tandem in college. Our workshops became part of my schedule and routine. I was the first year Rep that year, so they [the committee] helped me get quite involved with it. […] It bonded to my degree like a symbiote. […] It really helped me to get to meet people in first year and to socialise.

[…] It’s had a massive effect and confidence wise being thrown in the deep end with being on the committee so early. It was a small role but seeing how a committee works and how to organise events, it does force you to come out of your shell a bit because it's such a judgement free zone.

Could you tell me what your new role as Productions Officer will entail?

Adam: [For the festivals] our job includes bringing the scripts to life […] We're going to build the play in terms of lights and sounds. That also includes getting lights in because we don't have a designated stage on campus, and we also don't have lights at our disposal. We got some more equipment brought in because we got more of a budget last year, but we always rent lights out and it's going to be a learning curve, learning how to programme a light show for a whole evening of plays and then sound effects. Some of our bigger productions we’ll be doing more advanced sets and props. So that will involve set building and props and all sorts. It's the physical, technical side of the productions, helping the actors out and just giving the last push to the play that it needs, that it's presented the best way.

What significance does the prop container hold in prepping for plays and furthermore, on the society as a whole?

Adam: The container is something that I think it's an invaluable resource because there's so many props in there that trigger the imagination of people if they're writing plays. A few people have come out with ideas [because] they know that we have this prop at hand. Also, it's part of problem solving. So, we get given a script and this person needs to create a nursery. Rather than spending extra money on baby dolls and a fake crib, can we salvage something from the container, and can we repaint stuff? We do a lot of recycling. […] Usually, we can adapt an old prop. We might repaint something or attach bits onto it. Our costumes as well, they're a great resource depending on the setting we can just reuse some stuff. We have over the years been collecting some very cool jackets and props like that. We did a historical play last year called Hic et Ubique and that was a mixture between our own props and stuff that was brought in by our wonderful director, Alan Waldron. So, there was a lot of collaboration with outfits. […]

Why do you think Clubs and Societies are important for college students?

Adam: Beyond it being a nice stress relief and a hobby, it's a great way of getting to know people. It's a great way of getting to know things about yourself, and how you like to conduct yourself, and how you interact with people. […] It's something you can be interested in and passionate about that's not directly related to your degree. It's nice to see the university really supporting it and I can see communities being built on it and good friendships as well.

Michael Byrnes, Past Member of the Drama Soc

Could you tell me about one of your favourite memories of your time in the Drama Society?

Michael: There are many. One was the opening night of the Importance of Being Earnest. There was a lot of production and preparation put into the play.

What role did you play?

Michael: I played Earnest.

What did it reveal to you about the community that was created in the society while you were acting in an ensemble production?

Michael: Well, I suppose for that time you're like a family, and you're bound together by a play. That's the glue that holds you together. And if it runs for a week or two weeks, it's never going to be the same on any given night, and that creates an interesting dynamic of anticipation and exhilaration. It's the unforeseen, the unpredicted. Some nights are good. Some nights maybe are not so good, but even on the not-so-good nights you still enjoy it because there's no substitute for walking out on stage in front of a live audience.

Have you noticed any changes from when you were a member or any good qualities that might have stuck, from observing recent productions?

Michael: Well, I think the ethos, the sense of camaraderie and the sense of being an ensemble cast and that we're a family unit for the length and duration and the life of the production, that obviously is something that is consistently observed over that long period of time. It was the same when I was resident there. […] I think the whole esprit de corps, the spirit of going out on stage the whole buzz of live theatre, the whole culture that surrounds it, that there's this kind of sameness to that as there was 30 plus years ago.

How have you kept up your interest in theatre outside of the society?

Michael: Well, I suppose being a teacher and rearing a family and paying all the bills, and reality bites and you have to get stable employment to do that. So, in terms of being a professional and I think that particular opportunity wasn't a realistic option for me. However, as a university student and to my postgraduate days and as a teacher, I would have kept my oar in the water being involved in Crooked House Theatre Company in Newbridge mainly. Taking productions on tour like ‘Six Degrees of Separation’, a John McGrath play, and Shakespeare's ‘The Merchant of Venice’, ‘Les Liasons Dangereuses’ and various other plays. So, I suppose I maintained a continuum of interest there after I left Maynooth University. Probably didn't get involved as much as I should have, and you know and it's always something there on the periphery. It requires a huge reserve of energy after doing a day's work to read a script learn lines and interpret a character. It's kind of another day job or night job. […] You then kind of slip in more to being part of the audience, then part of the ensemble cast.

After hearing from just a fraction of one community on campus, college life goes beyond reading books and tackling deadlines. Oftentimes, clubs and societies are thought of as merely a playful break from your studies. But as we can see, they bring much more depth into student’s lives.

They give you a chance to revive a lost love or even find a new talent that you never knew you had! Regarding the Drama Society, it gives its members an enduring sense of belonging as seen in my father’s case who graduated over three decades ago. Whether we continue to participate on stage or just in the audience, that sense of community and life lessons we have learned will always remain.