Society life at Dundee is a bit overwhelming, tell me about it. There’s over 250 Societies to join! So how are you supposed to find the right one for you? Well, do not worry. There’s no need to obsessively flip through the societies booklet stunned. I am here to help. And my advice is that you need to join the Dundee Operatic Society or, as it is known to it’s friends, OpSoc. And yes, I might be a little biased, seeing as I am the vice-president of the society, but do not worry, this is a totally objectively, impartial take on why OpSoc is the best society on campus!
But what is Dundee OpSoc? You might ask. Well, don’t let the name fool you. We aren’t Opera singers. At least…not all of us are. We are a group of likeminded students, predominantly from Dundee University (but we have some members from further afield too!), who are obsesssSSED with musical theatre! Like, obsessed.
And that obsession is growing every year as our shows just keep getting bigger and better! In 2016, OpSoc hosted the European Premier of Heathers: The Musical. In 2018, our production of Nine to Five: The Musical included a special appearance from Dolly Parton herself. She might have been a projection but she was there! And as recently as 2019, promo for our production of Loserville: The Musical was shared by the writer James Bourne of Busted fame!
If these credentials aren’t enough evidence of why OpSoc is the best society of campus, we are also award winning! You heard that right! This year we were thrilled to be awarded DUSA’s Rag Event of The Year for our charity concert in aid of Versus Arthritis which we held completely online due to the restrictions imposed by Covid-19. And what’s even better, we raised £615! That ain’t too shabby if you ask me.
In spite of these restrictions, we’ve also remained incredibly active as a society. To introduce the freshers to the greatness that is OpSoc, we held a Rewind Concert where we took our new recruits, current and former members on a journey down OpSoc memory lane. And once again this was done completely online as a YouTube Live Event! (Look out for more of these soon!) There were also some themed cocktails recipes sent out. A ‘Wine to Five’ anyone?
For a bunch of musical theatre geeks, we’ve really got quite techy over the past couple of months!
Our members have also been kept busy busy and entertained by a whole range of fun social nights held on a variety of platforms (we’ve become well acquainted with all of them – Discord is a personal favourite). From a PowerPoint night (a hilarious time) to a murder mystery extravaganza (which was GBBO themed might I add), being prohibited from meeting face to face has not restricted the fun of any OpSoc social.
And if all that isn’t enough, maybe this can convince you: we are successfully rehearsing for our production of Made in Dagenham during a global pandemic. That’s right, in a time when the theatre industry has been forced to practically completely shut down, OpSoc, with the help of our fab production team, committee and members, has managed to stay afloat.
Rehearsals have been moved from the drama studio to the online world of Zoom and while singing and dancing alone in your room might seem a bit embarrassing, it is actually very liberating.
The auditions for the show were held online, every single dance rehearsal thus far has been conducted over Zoom and even some scenes have been run over video call! And, I can announce here, exclusively to you, that a show is coming together!
We are desperately hoping for restrictions to ease so that we can get rehearsing in person but if not, you can rest assured that OpSoc will bring you some form of show, as we always do, in the Spring! And for that reason, OpSoc is the best society at The University of Dundee.