Marching to the beat of your own drum was the focus of Unstop-Ability, a multilayered rhythmic performance filled with uplifting music and stunning lighting effects, which was held at the town hall last week.
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“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
It was this quote from Henry David Thoreau which director Stephanie Marshall said inspired the unique play, which featured several local drama groups, including many performers with disabilities and of various ages.
Mrs Marshall said she remembered the quote from an old poster in her room as she was growing up.
“When I asked my mum why she’d given it to me, she said that she thought that I moved to a different beat too, and that this quotation should make me feel OK about that,” she explained to the audience.
“It did.”
From the pre-show set from DJ Rizzo (aka Ryan McDermott) to the final passionate performance of The Greatest Showman’s This is Me from The Showstoppers, joy and a celebration of difference was front and centre.
The town hall was full for both performances on Wednesday evening and Thursday’s matinee.
The cheers were almost deafening for Everybody Dance Now/Gonna Make You Sweat, a piece featuring performers in light suits which made them appear as glowing stick figures on the stage.
The Drama Teens and Beyond stopped the audience in their tracks for captivating percussion sets while bathed in purple, red and blue lights.
The ensemble piece, Tightrope, had the crowd gasping as the performers’ silhouettes were cast over the stage as they mimed crossing a tightrope in various ways.
Michael Clarke performed a memorable rendition of Amazing Grace/My Chains alongside The Showstoppers and Holy Trinity performers, and the ensemble showed their appreciation of the deaf community, signing along to Imagine Dragons’ Thunder with white gloves which seemed to float in mid air on the dark stage.