A Night at the Theatre

A Night at the Theatre recently made its spectacular return across two days in October.

Every year, our creative arts societies collaborate to put on the night of the year and showcase snippets from their work. From Dance to Shakespeare to Musical Theatre Society, there was something for everyone in the audience to enjoy and it was great to see so many of our student groups having their moment on the stage in the Union Venue.

We spoke to Absolute Harmony and Desi Society about their experience of the event.

Absolute Harmony

“We performed two numbers at this year’s A Night at The Theatre performance. The first number, ‘Good 4 U’ by Olivia Rodrigo, was arranged by Hannah Julian, and was performed by the whole choir. This performance opened the night and set the evening off to a great start! The second number was halfway through the second act and performed by a smaller, auditioned section of the choir. Hard-core Harmony performed Hannah Abraham’s arrangement of ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles, which although slower and far less intense than the pop punk teen angst of ‘Good 4 U’, still showed off the group’s skill at bringing to life a well-loved song.

We also featured in the evening’s closing number, ‘Proud Mary’ by providing three soloists to open the number. Kate Allison, Grace Adams and Annika Swansbury were soon joined by the rest of the choir and all the other societies to bring both performances to a loud and resounding close. Much of the choir had never performed at an ANATT night before so for them, this was a great example of everything the performing arts societies at Royal Holloway can do! We had so much fun as a choir and cannot thank those involved in organising it enough for such an amazing two days.

Bring on the next ANATT!”

Desi Society

“My name is Subhan Haye and I'm a second-year History and Philosophy student. I performed a piece for the Desi Society where I spoke about how much it took to get someone like me onto a stage. I have always loved art and have always dreamed of taking part in the creation of art and the telling of stories. After having gone through what it took for my grandfather and father to get me to this stage of my life, I asked the question: "Do I belong here?", which is a very complex question for me.

I then performed "Once Kings" by Riz Ahmed because I believe it does a good job of portraying the complexity of the troubles that someone like me faces when they want to involve themselves in the performing arts. I then told the story of when three strangers approached me when I was alone in my school's canteen one day, writing a story. They asked to hear my story and genuinely enjoyed what I had to tell, even though I am sure it was not high quality. From then on, I concluded that it doesn't matter whether I belong on the stage or not because everyone has the right to be heard.”

As you can see, our student photographer captured the magic of the night - you can head to the SU Gigs & Events Facebook page to see all of the ANATT stars in action.