The Full Monty! - 12.09.12

First things first;

The Full Monty is hilarious!

Each character is played excellently, each with his own troubles that need to be resolved, proving that (contrary to popular belief) this is a show about much more than nudity.

Accompanied by an excellent band and supporting cast, six friends psyche themselves up for stripping for ONE NIGHT ONLY (don't worry, the Drill Hall is showing it for five) in front of one thousand women (including their wives and a mother, unfortunately) to raise enough money to solve each of their problems.




Several catchy numbers ("Let it go, let it go!") keep the play moving nicely and showcased some of the great voices the actors and actresses posses.

I can't skirt around the fact that 90% of the audience was female but that's no reason not to invite your man along! Alternatively you could treat them to Calendar Girls in October!

With a feel-good ending as well as THE stripping scene ( the group named themselves Hot Metal did'ya know) this is a perfect night out for mum's, daughters, neighbours, friends, anybody!

You've got four more shows (two are nearly sold out) to catch it, but whatever you do, DON'T MISS IT! See here for times and tickets.

-Hilary Shepherd, Marketing Officer

The Last Night of the Proms - 08.09.12

Last Night of the Proms aka the last chance this year we get to use our flags/bunting/union jack hats etc!

The whole place was dressed up red, white and blue and the classical music in the Cafe Bar before the concert started really set the mood for a night of celebrating being British with great music!

However right from the start audiences were in for a shock. 15 year old performers Elliot Crouch (trombone) and Emma Brown (oboe and cor anglais) played two short sets each and completely wowed the crowd with their talent! It was great to see young musicians up on stage promoting classical music.

After a short break (and a technical hitch) we were ready for the traditional Last Night line up, live from the BBC! Particularly outstanding were violinist Nicola Benedetti and tenor Joseph Calleja...

And then the old favourites You'll Never Walk Alone, Jerusalem, Pomp and Circumstance/Land of Hope and Glory, The Hornpipe and Rule Britannia! (featuring the Olympic athletes of course!)

There was no doubt that absolutely everyone in the room loved it and from the back all I could see was a sea of red, white and blue.

Rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves, Britain's never never shall be slaves! :)

-Hilary Shepherd, Marketing Officer

PREVIEW Something Wonderful is Coming... 30.08.12

'Something Wonderful' is a project commissioned by LOV (Lincolnshire One Venues) to Liverpool artists Jonathan Raisin and Elizabeth Willow - and given a deliberately vague title because nobody had any idea what it would be.

Based on the forgotten, hidden and thrown away things of everyday life, Raisin and Willow wandered around all ten venues that belong to LOV and turned their travels into art.






Now I can't give too much away but I went to go see a scratch performance last week at the Riverhead Theatre in Louth....













And thoroughly enjoyed a performance of music, poetry, literature, memory, imagination, laughter and sadness.

How well do you know Lincolnshire? Are you good at using your imagination? This show definitely touches on appreciating the little things in life that make everyone's day just that little bit better.

-love in Grantham, taken from the Raisin and Willow blog

Keep your eyes and ears open for Something Wonderful between 5 and 10 November this year :)

-Hilary Shepherd, Marketing Officer

The Bangers & Mash Ball - 26.08.12

Having spent several months on the organising committee for the ball I was very anxious to see it all come together on this Bank Holiday weekend.

Under the theme of 'Best of British' we began decorating the main Hall with red white and blue EVERYTHINGS. You name it!

(yes it's a gnome)

BUT if you as a non-ball-attender have heard anything at all about our annual Ball's you'll have heard of this............................................. the Barrow of Booze!!

Quite literally a wheelbarrow of alcohol that gets auctioned off to the highest bidder. I think in total there were 54 bottles of wine, ale and even some champagne which a very lucky person took home for £325! 

Bargain.

Excellent food (thanks Black Peppermint) and wine (Merci to Steep Hill Wines), FAB music (Love Boat Captains - see our Back To The Future Nights!), beautiful decorations, programmes and auction and raffle prizes (thanks to Design by Distraction among others) and even some magic courtesy of the amazing Scott Perry made this a truly memorable and brilliant night.

If you've never been to one of these ball's before (as I hadn't) I strongly recommend you keep one eye open for it when next August comes around.

-Hilary Shepherd, Marketing Officer

City of London Sinfonia: Lullaby - 07.06.12

At 1pm the mums, dads and little ones started pouring through the Drill Hall doors (including my high school geography teacher; small world) to see the City of London Sinfonia introduce tiddlers to classical music via the theme of animals at 2pm.

If you know a little about classical music you may recognise some of these pieces:

- The Elephant (from Carnival of the Animals)
- Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky's ballet)
- Fantasia from Greensleeves (by Vaughan-Williams)
- Old Macdonald had a Farm (of course)

...as well as the unnamed piece that transported us between these excerpts when we got on our horses and galloped to the next stop on our musical journey.

Leader of the event Claire Bloor was great at getting the kids jumping up and down, pretending to be animals (there were a couple of small tigers & lions around anyway) and racing each other when they got on their horses.


As well as it being great that the Drill Hall was packed with little ones, it was even more great that they clearly loved it! 

-Hilary Shepherd, Marketing Officer

31.05.2012 - Nubes (Clouds) by Aracaladanza

Where to begin?

A show for children but I'm not a child, a show for dancers but I'm not into dance.. but I LOVED it!

It was just brilliant.

There was never a particular storyline, only a series of loosely connected events that left your imagination to fill in the gaps.

Two of my favourite moments:

1. Watching the cast waddle around in flippers

2. Giggling at overly tall men with wobbly heads!

I left the theatre feeling light as a feather and extremely happy to have parted with £8 in exchange for my new found faith in humankind.

-Hilary Shepherd, Marketing Officer

A Sonnet For Anne - 25-7.04.12

Brilliant!!! 

The structure of it!  Perfect! 

Jo Hollingworth and Stephen Gillard.  Brilliant!!! 

Their make up.  Extreme! 

Their performances.  Hypnotic!  Linking the action so cleverly! 

The set.  Brilliant!!!  So simple and so effective! 

All the performances.  Brilliant!!!   And so many words to remember!  Amazing! 

And the writing.  David Owen Smith.  Brilliant!!!

Everything Brilliant!!! 

But most brilliant of all, Liz Lucas!  Mrs Shakespeare.   Narrow-minded, a snob, over-possessive, ordinary.  The woman next door.  A woman who loved her husband.  A portrait of a woman who loved her husband.  That simple.  That complicated.  So intricately portrayed.  And when Mrs Shakespeare cried, we cried with her. 

Brilliant!!!  Brilliant!!!   Brilliant!!!

-Jenny Clarkson, Box Office Assistant