'A huge achievement for the club': Amateur theatre group celebrates 10th anniversary 

Rebel City Drama Club recently marked its 10th anniversary with a celebration night in the Courtyard on Sober Lane in Cork city.

The night provided an ideal opportunity to reflect on what the group has managed to achieve so far, while also looking ahead in anticipation at the journey into the future.

Founded in 2016, Rebel City Drama Club is an independent amateur theatre group based in Cork city.

The primary objective of the group is to remove access barriers to performance theatre and make it accessible for everyone at every level.

Initially, Rebel City Drama Club consisted of casual meet-ups, but over the years these grew into more permanent events.

The group is now running two productions a year, as well as fortnightly drama workshops in the Haven café in between shows.

Rebel City Drama Club are entirely self-funded and any money made from the shows goes towards helping to make future productions.

“I am really proud of what we have managed to achieve and the impact we have made for the artistic community of Cork,” Marie Phelan, chairperson of Rebel City Drama Club told The Echo. “There is a big community of people really invested in amateur theatre in Cork and love it.

“They will give up weeks of their lives for rehearsals and for helping. We just have brilliant and creative people.”

She added: “I have made so many friends and I have met so many amazing people through this club.

“People will volunteer their time to do the sound and the lighting. They are all professional jobs.

“People will come along and give up their weekend or a couple of weeks to get it set up and to help.”

From just a few minutes in her company, it is clear that holding the role as chairperson of Rebel City Drama Club provides great enjoyment to Ms Phelan.

Landmark year

She holds the role in the midst of what is a landmark year for the club.

“Making the 10-year milestone is a huge achievement for the club.

“We survived covid. We did an online YouTube play in the middle of that. But we kept it going. We used to do meet-ups and just read plays online for a while.

“But we have no funding whatsoever, so to get to 10 years is unbelievable.

“We are entirely self-funded. Any money we make from the shows goes towards producing the next one.

“We started getting more members and more interest in the club. So we are thrilled to get to 10 years.”

The Rebel City Drama Club have staged performances in Cork city over the years across venues such as Nano Nagle Theatre, Firkin Crane, and An Spailpín Fánach.

There are also several playwrights, actors, and non-acting support within the group, across multiple theatre craft domains and experience levels.

On an overall level, Ms Phelan is optimistic for a bright future ahead for the Rebel City Drama Club: “We have our next three shows booked in already, so that is a good sign. We have Calendar Girls coming up in November, which will be really funny.

“Then we have a Greek tragedy in April and next November One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Ms Phelan said.

“The short term goal is to just to try to make a little bit of money on every show, so that you can do more with production and more with costume.

“We are very limited as it stands on what we can afford. So the aim is to build up the financing and continue to provide high quality theatre.”

She said the Rebel City Drama Club are always looking for new people who are interested in joining.

“Our drama workshops are completely open to anyone to try out. We have had people from all over the world join us and perform in our shows, many of them for the first time.

“I am very much interested in the acting side myself. But a show is a lot more than just that. It is a real community effort I would say.”

During the opening 10 years of operations, the Rebel City Drama Club has made a significant impact on Leeside.

The group will be looking to further enhance and grow over the coming months and years ahead.