Our Proud History

Shrewsbury Amateur Operatic Society was founded in 1923 by Madame Nina Robinson and the early shows took place at the Royal County Theatre. Apart from periods during the Second World War and the Covid lockdown period, the Society has sung and danced its way into the hearts of several generations of audiences to the people of Shropshire and beyond. In 1936 the Society moved to the Granada Cinema, a 1500 seat venue, but unfortunately, in 1972 the Granada Cinema closed and the Society moved to the Music Hall. In 1985 the Music Hall underwent a major renovation with a totally refurbished stage area and much more modern technical equipment, but once again we needed to find a new venue, as in 2009 the Music Hall closed. In 2011 SAOS opened at the new Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, playing to full houses with our production of Oliver!
Since then, we have performed award-winning shows at Theatre Severn such as Titanic the Musical, Chess, Fiddler on the Roof, Sister Act, Return to the Forbidden Planet, A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Jesus Christ Superstar, Wizard of Oz, Ghost – The Musical, Sunshine On Leith and our most recent epic productions, School Of Rock and Beautiful - The Carole King Musical.
In September 2019 the members took the momentous decision to change our name from Shrewsbury Amateur Operatic Society to Shrewsbury Musical Theatre Company. We did this to reflect the evolution of the company from light opera to West End musicals.
A century on and the Company is still flourishing. Every year we welcome new members to our friendly group, for roles on and off-stage. If you would like to join us for a future production, please look out for our updates via social media and this website. We guarantee you a warm welcome.
Snippets of some of the oral history interviews conducted in celebration of our 100th birthday in 2023. Precious memories, funny stories and a glimpse into our vibrant history and our contribution to Shrewsbury's cultural heritage. Click the subtitles icon at the bottom for captions. This video was made possible with funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The full interviews are available via Shropshire Archives.

SMTC In the Press
Take a look at some of our press cuttings preserved by the wonderfully talented Heather Game, dating back as far as 1963 and starting with SAOS's production of The Merry Widow, performed to 12,000 people!!!
Click the scrapbook to take a look inside.

SMTC Past Productions
With huge thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, we have been able to digitise and share so many of our show programmes and photos from over the past century. Please click the links below each show name for a look down memory lane. (The original hard copies of these programmes are available to view at Shropshire Archives.)
1923 The Gondoliers (learn more here)
1924 Iolanthe
1925 The Mikado | The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard 1925
1927 The Pirates of Penzance | Ruddigore
1928 Merrie England
1929 The Gondoliers
1930 Tom Jones
1931 Trial by Jury | HMS Pinafore
1933 The Rebel Maid
1936 The Vagabond King
1937 Dorothy
1938 The Mikado
1939 The Yeomen of the Guard
1947 Merrie England
1948 Tom Jones
Tom Jones 1948
1949 The Gondoliers
1950 Veronique | The Mikado
The Mikado 1950
1951 The Quaker Girl
1952 The Rebel Maid
1953 The Desert Song | Iolanthe
The Desert Song 1953
1954 The Arcadians
The Arcadians 1954
1955 The Yeomen of the Guard
1956 The Geisha
The Geisha 1956
1957 The Dubarry
1958 The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers 1958
1959 The Gypsy Baron
1960 White Horse Inn
1961 Die Fledermaus
1962 Passion Flower
1963 The Merry Widow









The Merry Widow 1963
1964 Oklahoma!
1965 Showboat
1966 Gipsy Love
1967 The Count of Luxembourg
1968 The Pirates of Penzance & Trial by Jury
1969 La Vie Parisienne
1970 My Fair Lady
1971 Camelot | Salad Days
1972 Orpheus in the Under-world | No, No, Nanette
1973 The Gondoliers | The Merry Widow



The Gondoliers 1973
1974 Charlie Girl
1975 Paint Your Wagon
1976 Brigadoon
1977 Fiddler on the Roof | Gigi | HMS Pinafore
1978 The Yeomen of the Guard | The Boyfriend
1979 Die Fledermaus | Oliver!
1980 The Gypsy Princess | The King and I








The Gypsy Princess 1980






The King and I 1980
1981 Oklahoma! | The Pirates of Penzance
1982 The Desert Song | Salad Days
1983 The Gypsy Baron | Carousel
1984 Irene | A Viennese Evening
1985 Guys & Dolls | Hans Anderson
1986 Kismet | Calamity Jane
1987 Mikado | South Pacific
1988 Half a Sixpence | Annie
1989 Fiddler on the Roof | The Gondoliers
1990 The Pajama Game | Bless the Bride
1991 Oklahoma! | Brigadoon
1992 Orpheus in the Underworld | Sweet Charity
1993 Carousel | My Fair Lady
1994 Die Fledermaus | Camelot
1995 Kiss me Kate | The Pirates of Penzance & Trial by Jury
1996 Viva Mexico! | Singin’ in the Rain
1997 Gigi | HMS Pinafore | The Zoo
1998 Annie Get your Gun | The Merry Widow
1999 Fiddler on the Roof | Anything Goes
2000 Me and My Girl | Mack & Mabel
2001 The Gondoliers | 42nd Street
2002 My Fair Lady | Crazy for You
2003 Hello Dolly | South Pacific
2004 Oliver! | Oklahoma!
2005 High Society | Half A Sixpence
2006 Pirates of Penzance | Kiss Me Kate
2007 Thoroughly Modern Millie | Return to the Forbidden Planet
2008 Jekyll & Hyde | Anything Goes
2009 Summer Holiday
2010 Sweet Charity
2011 Oliver!
2012 Titanic – The Musical
2013 Chess – The Musical | Songs From The Shows
2014 Fiddler on the Roof
2015 Sister Act
2016 Return to the Forbidden Planet
2017 A Tale of Two Cities
2018 Oliver! | Priscilla Queen of the Desert
2019 Jesus Christ Superstar | Backwards Broadway Concert
2022 The Wizard of Oz | Ghost – The Musical
2023 Sunshine on Leith | A Century Of Songs | School of Rock
2024 Beautiful The Carole King Musical | Nativity The Musical
The memorabilia shared via this page is openly licensed via CC BY 4.0.
Our Venues
The Royal County Theatre
In 1923 Madame Rina Robinson’s protégés were delighted to be performing their first production on a professional stage, but the elegant interior of the Royal County Theatre in Shoplatch was far from ideal with its tiny stage and small backstage area which could accommodate only the ladies of the cast. The men had to use an area of the nearby George Hotel as a makeshift dressing room!
None of this detracted from the audience enthusiasm and the Society continued to perform popular light opera productions at the Royal County for more than a decade.



The Granada Theatre
In 1936, Shrewsbury Amateur Operatic Society moved to the larger Granada Theatre on Castle Gates, where cast members enjoyed performing on a huge stage and changing in luxurious male and female dressing rooms.
The Granada played host to productions like Tom Jones, The Merry Widow and The Yeomen of the Guard.
Apart from a break during the war years, performances continued there until the theatre’s closure in 1972, when the building was converted to a bingo hall.




The Music Hall
The fabulous Victorian Music Hall in the town square was our much-loved home in the latter part of the 20thCentury, with shows such as The Pyjama Game, Carousel, Fiddler On The Roof and Half A Sixpence.
In 1985 the Music Hall underwent a major refurbishment and we were temporarily rehomed to the splendour of Shrewsbury Castle. On our return to the Music Hall cast and crew were very excited to make use of the totally refurbished stage area and uber-modern technical equipment. Sadly, the excitement was relatively short-lived and we were on the move again.
The Music Hall closed down in 2009 so the building could be converted into the Museum and Art Gallery you see today.




Oakengates Town Hall
In 1973 SAOS made the journey to Oakengates Town Hall, near Telford (now known as the Place Theatre), where they performed The Merry Widow.

Belvidere School
This was a regular rehearsal venue for SAOS throughout its history but in 2009 due to the closure of the Music Hall and with Theatre Severn still in the building stage SAOS duly took to the stage of Belvidere School for its run of Summer Holiday.

Theatre Severn
In 2011 the musical, Oliver! was our first production on the fantastic stage at Theatre Severn, the new purpose-built entertainment venue on the banks of the River Severn. Since then, we have performed award-winning shows at Theatre Severn such as Titanic the Musical, Sister Act, Return to the Forbidden Planet, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and, in 2019, Jesus Christ Superstar, our last production under the name Shrewsbury Amateur Operatic Society.
To reflect the evolution of the Company from light opera to West End style musicals we changed our name to Shrewsbury Musical Theatre Company and we continue to make use of the state of the art facilities Theatre Severn has to offer. It’s difficult to imagine how we might have staged some of our recent productions in our previous homes. Audiences would have missed out on a flying witch on her bicycle in our 2022 production of The Wizard of Oz, had we been at the little old Royal County Theatre.
The magic of SMTC’S musical theatre continues to leap into the hearts of Shropshire audiences at our glorious Theatre Severn. Madame Rina Robinson would agree we’ve certainly come a long way over the past century and, to quote a young pig-tailed character in the aforementioned production, there’s no place like home!





The Barnes Theatre, Shrewsbury School
SMTC performed its first show in the newly renovated Barnes Theatre in December 2024, the perfect location to perform Nativity! The Musical as during the festive season, Theatre Severn is unavailable due to it being pantomime season.
The Barnes Theatre Auditorium is an intimate setting for plays, rehearsals, lectures and workshops and is complete with a full lighting rig and PA system. Unveiled in 2020 before an official opening in 2022 by revered actor and Old Salopian Sir Michael Palin, Barnes has plays host to over ten shows annually, including whole school plays and musicals, house plays, new writing and student-directed work.
Home to two state-of-the-art drama and dance studios, technical workshop space and generous front-of-house facilities, makes this a fantastic performance space providing a wonderful customer experience.
