The colleges drama society DU Players set to put on thirteen different events, two separate plays, serve daily hangover breakfasts and lunches and cast over 100 people in 5 different shows for their Freshers Festival, all in the space of 5 days. The DU Players Freshers Week kicks off with their traditional Comedy Extravaganza, this year taking place in their on-campus theatre, Players Theatre and the Dining Hall in front square. The event kicks off at 4.00pm in Players Theatre and ends at 10.00pm in the Dining Hall, featuring comedy groups fresh from very successful runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival A Betrayal of Penguins and Foil, Arms and Hog and ending with headline act, acclaimed comedian, Jarlath Regan.
Tuesday night sees DU Players host a Full Moon Themed Party in Players Theatre, which serves as a pre-party for the Silent Disco later that night in Tripod which is being run by Ents in association with DU Players and the DU Comedy Society. On Wednesday, DU Players will re-stage two of the shows that had popular runs last year, Evelyn by James Joyce and Messiah by Stephen Berkoff, for audiences of freshers who didn’t get a chance to catch them last year.
Possibly the most ambitious event of the week takes place on Thursday, where we understand, with the help of DU Food and Drink, they’re planning on running an interactive murder mystery night entitled Murder at the Oscars where they will simulate a live action night at the Oscars. For one night only, Their nightime events for the week will finish on Friday with a night of live music in Players Theatre, run along with the DU Jazz Society, entitled All That Jazz, where there are rumours of a very special guest making an appearance during the course of evening and during that day the FM 104 Roadhog, which will be based beside Along with their nightime events, during Freshers Week DU Players will also be running workshops and holding auditions all week for their annual Freshers Festival, which will comprise of 5 different shows, to be performed between Weeks 4 and 6, and which there are just over 100 parts available to people from any year who are looking to feature in or work on their first ever show in Players Theatre.
With a year that will also see DU Players welcome personalities such as Tommy Tiernan, David Mitchell (Peep Show), Paddy Considine (Hot Fuzz, The Bourne Ultimatum) and Ralph Fiennes (Schindlers List, The English Patient) to Players Theatre and stage over 45 different shows and 5 different large scale festivals, Freshers Week looks to be one of many busy weeks for the most active society in college.
