page_title: Aberystwyth University Students' Union
section_title: Theatre Societies
hierarchical_section_title: Aberystwyth University Students' Union / Sports and societies / Theatre Societies
caption_attribution_description: English: Exploding Fish Improv Varsity Match against Bangor Comedy 2013
context_page_description: Aberystwyth University Students' Union is the students' union of Aberystwyth University. It is affiliated to the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom and NUS Wales/UCM Cymru.
  It is one of the oldest and most active student unions in the UK. It hosted the first NUS UK national conference. Today it still plays a crucial role in upholding the interests of students in Aberystwyth, in Wales and across the UK. The student advice centre offers support services to all students and is able to cover a wide range of subjects such as stress, sexual health and immigration.
  In addition to academic representation, campaigns and student support, it oversees a wide range of volunteering, sports clubs and societies.
context_section_description: The Students' Union is notable for the number of drama and theatre societies available to its members.
  The oldest of these, The Nomadic Players, was founded in 1999 and focuses solely on established 'straight' plays. The Nomadic Players produce, on average, four shows a year. Plays produced by the Nomads include A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster, David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago and Alice by Laura Wade. The society has also successfully produced Moira Buffini’s play Dying For It, and Willy Russell's Stags and Hens. The society's aim is to carry on providing high quality performances and give students the opportunity to further their acting experience.
  Broad-Ways Theatre & Film Society (founded 2009) provides a platform for undergraduates, post-graduates and even assistant non-students to write their own original productions, in theatre, film and multimedia forms. As the only society to supply opportunities for original independent and team-written script-writing, film-making, and multimedia theatre, Broad-Ways stages four to five shows per year. These involve feature-length Independent Productions, in theatre and/or film forms; a Collaborative Project, which focuses on team-written multimedia; the One-Acts festival, a collection of several short theatre pieces that has been annually performed at the Canolfan Arad Goch; and the Film Festival, a collection of several film shorts that has a one-night showing at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre.
  Broad-Ways is also known for its fund-raising events for charities such as World Wide Fund for Nature and Macmillan Cancer Support, and its weekly Makers Meetings, where artists from all forms can create in a free and open space. Several of Broad-Ways' former members and writers have gone on to work both independently and professionally within theatre and film, notably Lewis Gibson-Grainger and Aaron Small, whose original Indie Project script, Vermis, is currently under production by The Co-Operative British Youth Film Academy. Broad-Ways devotes itself to providing students of any study vast opportunities in the many areas of film, theatre, scenography, and writing.
  Curtain Call Musical Theatre Society, founded in 2006, typically produces two large scale shows a year with smaller showcases taking place throughout the year. These showcases are usually held in the Student Union. The society's original aim was to provide more opportunities for Aberystwyth students to be physically involved with creating musical theatre. In its formative years the company did not purely produce musical theatre but also 'straight' plays such as Michael Frayn's Noises Off. Curtain Call has produced sell-out runs of shows such as Jonathan Larson's RENT, Little Shop of Horrors and a successful production of Our House, based on the music of Madness. The society's mission today is still to give opportunities to all student and associate members to participate in producing musical theatre. Past members of Curtain Call are now working professionally in the West End and regionally, most notably the society's founding president Alan Mehdizadeh who made his West End debut in Billy Elliot the Musical at The Victoria Palace Theatre, London in 2013, and in 2016 took over the role of Don in Kinky Boots the Musical,(also on London's West End). Other former members have since gone on to work at venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Opera house and in film and television. In May 2014 Curtain Call became the first ever university society to perform in the main house of Aberystwyth Arts Centre with their production of Fame which also featured the brief return of Mehdizadeh to the society.
  Exploding Fish are the only improvisation and devising society in Aberystwyth. Holding weekly workshops and bi-weekly performances, they are devoted to creating a fun, friendly environment in which everyone can understand improvisation better and improve on life skills such as confidence and quick thinking. They also regularly perform full length devised productions at th
caption: Exploding Fish Improv Varsity Match against Bangor Comedy 2013 Credit: Joseph Landers Photography
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