Med Revue celebrates 50 years of stage antics

Much may have changed for Dunedin medical students over the past 50 years, but some traditions are here to stay.

This year Otago is celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Med Revue, an annual show that sees second and third-year medical tauira take to the stage to raise money for a local charity.

Held from 30 July to 1 August at the College of Education Auditorium, this year’s show had the theme ‘Alice in Wounderland’. Med Revue Producer 2026 Ruchika Tandon says they wanted to honour the 50^th anniversary by having a traditional Med Revue set up and format, which included skits, live music and dance sequences, including three all-cast dances.

Ruchika, a third-year medical student, took part in the 2025 show and described it as “one of the best things I did last year”.

She says tauira get a huge amount out of taking part in the production.

“There’s a real sense of community, and the joy that comes from building something together from scratch. It’s definitely our show, from the script to the skits.”

The Med Revue is organised by the Otago University Medical Students’ Association. This year there was a group of about 60 students involved, including the cast, band members and the backstage crew. Ruchika thanked everyone for their hard work and enthusiasm and gave a special shoutout to the rest of the 13-strong “amazing” directing team.

She says the spirit of giving and being of service is a key part of their medical training and demonstrating that in other ways is just as important.

This year’s chosen charity is The Mount Cargill Trust, which provides care and support to children, young people and adults with intellectual disabilities and/or an autistic spectrum diagnosis.

“It’s cool to be able to celebrate people and that lines up well with our chosen charity, which also celebrates people and diversity,” Ruchika says.

To mark the 50^th milestone, a special anniversary event, called ‘Down the rabbit hole’, was held at the Hunter Centre on 2 August to give students, staff and alumni a chance to share stories and reflect on and celebrate five decades of the Med Revue.

Past and present cast and crew members attended, and guests included the first Med Revue producer, Dr Sue Walthert, of Dunedin.

As part of the celebrations at the Hunter Centre, memorabilia such as old props and costumes were on display, as well as photo montages and video compilations of previous Med Revues.

-Kōrero by Andrea Jones, Team Leader, Divisional Communications