Over the past forty years, members of Dundee University Operatic and Musical Society, or OPSOC have come a long way. They have been kings and queens, aristocrats and peasants, peers, politicians, and policemen. While they have been judges and barristers, on the other side of the law, they have also been gangsters, outlaws, pirates, gamblers, and whores.
They have joined the US Navy, the Salvation Army, and an American football team. They have belonged to all manner of religious and political groups, and taken part in the French Revolution. You might have seen them as ghosts, fairies, gods, goddesses, and rock stars, but also as cowboys, schoolgirls, and teenage delinquents. One year they were even actors and actresses.
OPSOC’s stage adventures have taken them all round Europe, including London, Paris, Venice, Vienna, and the South of France. They have also seen much of the USA, visiting places such as New York, Texas, and Oklahoma. But they have travelled further afield as well: to Japan and the South Seas, even up to Mount Olympus, and down to the pits of hell. And they were once in Cornwall.
Life is exciting in OPSOC, but seldom safe. Swords are regularly drawn, knives thrust, truncheons raised, and axes wielded. Fists often fly, and of course countless guns have been fired over the years. Not surprisingly, there have been a number of deaths. Some die in brawls, some in battle, some from the venom of a snake, and one died for his religious beliefs. But there is also plenty of immortality to make up for it. And weddings. There have been an awful lot of weddings. At least seventy; although a fair number of divorces as well.
OPSOC celebrate their 40th anniversary this year with a performance of Bye Bye Birdie on 30 April - 3 May.