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

Chess 26.10.11

 “Chess”, not a show I was familiar with and given its youth production nature it seemed an unusual choice for production company DTC to stray away from the safer ground of shows like “Our House” and “Les Mis” that they have previously produced. 

However I can honestly say that the cast, crew and producers pulled it off.  The show used a smaller group of prominent characters compared to others and this worked to the casts strengths meaning the actors that performed were a much tighter unit and produced some good moments.  Sadly those moments were few and far between due to the sheer number of songs that Chess possesses, I know it’s a musical but when the first half runs at 1 hour 15 minutes and about an hour of that is similarly paced songs it gets quite laborious. 

The second half was better with a shorter running time and songs that had more character, including “One Night In Bangkok” and the one everyone knows “I Know Him So Well”.  All the songs were performed excellently though with some very strong voices being able to really stretch their legs.

An usual staging and minimal set forced innovative direction and lighting to be used so scenes could be distinguished between and the show didn’t become visually boring.  There were no legs and as a result no wings so all the stage was visible and the space was filled well by clever lighting conventions.  The crew who were dressed in white shirts and black ties sat to the side of the stage and took on acting crew member roles during scene changes.

In a sentence, the cast was better than the show with the audience feeling they’d had a good game but check-mate hadn’t quite been achieved.  I feel spurred on to look out for future shows produced by DTC thanks to Chess, one of which was hinted at after the final number when the theme from “The Phantom of the Opera” rang throughout the auditorium, a surprise to the cast as much as the audience it seemed, look out for that in 2012. 

-Tom Marcinek, Box Office Assistant