History
The Graduate Dramatic Society (GRADS) originated in 1953 at the University of Western Australia. The Sunken Garden at UWA, a theatre created from a sandpit, was in 1948 the venue for a season of Oedipus Rex which earned the plaudits of Laurence Olivier and Vivienne Leigh among others. Jeana Bradley of UWA was the director. The subsequent blossoming of dramatic activity suggested to some of the undergraduates that they should continue after they graduated. For the next twenty years the Graduate Dramatic Society was a leading source of good theatre in Western Australia.
Combined productions with the University Dramatic Society were early features of the Festival of Perth. In 1964 the New Fortune Theatre came into use. This unique venue is the only theatre in the southern hemisphere built to the known dimensions of an Elizabethan theatre. The first production was Hamlet, directed by Jeana Bradley and Philip Parsons, and involving GRADS members. Besides the Sunken Garden and the New Fortune Theatre the society also used the old Dolphin, a weatherboard building. That was demolished after the new Dolphin came into use in 1976.
Since 1995, annual summer productions of Shakespeare have been a feature of the GRADS calendar and offered excellent opportunities for audiences and actors alike to experience the unique environment of this replica Elizabethan theatre.
