Oxford University Dramatic Society

{{Redirect-acronym|OUDS|Otago University Debating Society}}

{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

class="infobox" style="width: 25em; text-align: left; font-size: 95%;" |+ style="font-size: larger;" | The Oxford University Dramatic Society
colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |File:Oxford University Dramatic Society logo.svg
Founded | 1884
Home Page | [https://www.oxforduniversitydramaticsociety.com/ OUDS]
President |Theo Joly, New College (2025/2026https://www.oxforduniversitydramaticsociety.com/committee-and-senior-members) | colspan="2" style="font-size: smaller;" |

The Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) is the principal funding body and provider of theatrical services to the many independent student productions put on by students in Oxford, England. Not all student productions at Oxford University are awarded funding from the society. However it is rare, for example, for any student production at the Oxford Playhouse not to receive substantial funding from the society. The society funds many types of shows, mostly at the Oxford Playhouse, Burton Taylor Theatre, and the individual college theatres such as the Michael Pilch Studio at Balliol, Moser Theatre at Wadham and the O'Reilly Theatre at Keble. All productions put on by Oxford University students can use the society's services, such as the website, the auditions portal, and advice from the committee, providing their production company is registered.

File:Group photo of the company of the Oxford University Dramatic Society in 1898.png

The Society supports a competition for Freshers (Cuppers), held in Michaelmas Term and a New Writing Festival in Hilary Term. OUDS also supports an annual National UK Tour, which culminates in a long run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[http://www.oudsdobulgakov.com OUDS UK Summer Tour 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918081204/http://oudsdobulgakov.com/ |date=18 September 2017 }}, OUDS UK Summer Tour 2010, The Master and Margarita. Previously, the society has also facilitated a Shakespeare production, jointly with Thelma Holt, touring Japan, with preview performances in the UK.[http://www.ouds.org/ OUDS], Oxford University Dramatic Society.

The society was founded in November 1884 by Arthur Bourchier, James Adderley, and Alan MacKinnon, and its first production, Henry IV, Part 1, opened in May 1885.{{Cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4jcjAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA877&ci=108%2C1217%2C706%2C132 |title=The O.U.D.S. – After Twenty-Five Years |first=Alan |last=MacKinnon |magazine=The Fortnightly Review |number=DXV |page=877–878 |date=1909-11-01 |access-date=2023-10-03 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lbwOG9V0X4C&pg=PA16 |title=Oxford Playhouse: High and Low Drama in a University City |first=Don |last=Chapman |publisher=University of Hertfordshire Press |isbn=9781902806877 |page=16 |date=2008 |access-date=2023-10-03 |via=Google Books}}

During World War I, when some 200 Belgian refugees came to Oxford, the society lent its room to a "Belgian Club".{{Cite book|title = History of the University of Oxford: Volume VIII: The Twentieth Century - Oxford Scholarship|year = 1994|url = http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229742.001.0001/acprof-9780198229742|doi = 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229742.001.0001|isbn = 978-0-19-822974-2|editor1-last = Harrison|editor1-first = Brian}}