IODS Productions recently performed The Addams Family at Redbridge Drama Centre. Dylan Lee wrote about the group recently for the Ilford Recorder. You can see what was written below.

IODS Productions (formally the Ilford Operatic & Dramatic Society) are still going strong 104 years after being formed. We are said to be one of the oldest theatre societies still active within London and Essex.

Officially formed in 1919, IODS Productions have been performing nearly every year since, stopping only twice for WWII and the Covid-19 Pandemic. Formed at the end of WWI by former members of the Ilford Social Club, we began putting on Operatic & Dramatic performances at Ilford Town Hall (Redbridge Town Hall from 1965) and some Dramatic performances at the Little Theatre, Ilford during the 1960s. The very first production we performed was Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘The Gondoliers’.

In 1975, with the opening of the new Kenneth More Theatre, we found what would be our performing home for 45 years right up to 2020 with our final production of ‘Our House’ (just before Lockdown!).

In 1991, we formed IODS Youth, a youth branch of the main society aimed at advancing the education of the arts for young people within Redbridge and the surrounding areas. Throughout the 28 years of IODS Youth, we have performed over twenty musicals and have produced talent that you can see today in the West End and on screen. IODS Youth alumni have gone on to star in Les Misérables, Ghost Stories, School of Rock and Hollyoaks to name a few.

In 2022, after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, IODS Productions returned to the stage, this time at our new home, the Redbridge Drama Centre, with a production of Jonathan Larson’s RENT The Musical. We also put the “Dramatic” back into Ilford Operatic & Dramatic Society by performing our first play in 50 years ‘Murder In Play’ by Simon Brett. The RDC has cemented itself as our new home and we will be performing there for some time to come.