venue

Diocesan Training College

Dates

12th May 1909

Director

 Rev. Alfred Bater

It was on Wednesday the 12th of May, 1909 that the British Empire Shakespeare Society (Derby Branch), as we were known at the time, staged its first public performance when our founding members staged a selection of scenes from 'As You Like It' at the Diocesan Training College on Uttoxeter Road in Derby.

It was an apt choice of play, a comedy of love which acknowledges its theatrical nature and likens human life to a stage performance - a fitting starting point for the life of this company which is still growing and sharing the work of William Shakespeare with audiences well over 100 years later.