Page 20 - Thrapston Life February 2022

QUESTION & ANSWER
QA
In 1995 Denford WI decided to mount a show entitled Do You Remember?, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The call went out for local volunteer performers and the show consisted of wartime songs and sketches. It proved so successful that it was decided to start
and at Cambridge in the early 1970s became involved in the Footlights group. However, this subsequently lay dormant until 1995.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
We’ve adapted most of the popular pantos, from Cinderella through to Aladdin, Dick Whittington
THE ‘DTs’
alias the Denford Thespians
a village drama group, dubbed the Denford Thespians (alias the DTs, although the link with strong drink is purely coincidental...)
It was decided to start with Cinderella, which was written by Will Adams and performed in 1997, but Peter Fairweather soon became co-author. So far Will and Peter have written 23 two-act scripts.
We are very lucky in having fine comedy performers among our ranks
and Ali Baba. For these we always
go back to the original stories for inspiration – but then we have to adapt them to suit the gender and age of our cast, since we always write to order for the members. There are no auditions, and no one gets left out!
Beyond the traditional pantos, we’ve written panto-style shows involving ancient Rome, the Wild West, a school, 1920s American gangsters, pirates and
The DTs usually put on a revue each autumn, to help them warm up and to raise funds for the main show. Here Will Adams tells us more...
Have you always worked in entertainment? I had been involved in am-dram while at school,
a haunted house. We always try and make each show as different as possible from the previous.
What’s your next production? An adaptation of the Grimm fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, to be staged in Denford Village Hall in March.
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