In Moray: Out of the Darkness, Onto the big screen
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AUDIENCES were wowed by a local theatre company’s new show which took its own spin on well-loved movies.
Established in 1992, Out of the Darkness Theatre Company aims to bring the joys of performance and production to adults with learning differences and disabilities.
The group’s new show, ODTC Goes to the Movies, took place on Wednesday and Thursday at Wards Road, Elgin.
It's an original piece based on the members' favourite movies.
“The idea came initially from wanting to show the short films that we’d recorded just after lockdown,” said ODTC’s head of technical Martin McAuslan.
“But rather than putting them on YouTube or releasing them on DVD, we thought it’d be good to let people see them on a bigger screen.
"Then the members could also get up on stage or perform some extra scenes in between the films."
But the scenes between got bigger and bigger, and before we knew it we thought this has become like a full show.”
The new show provided their own take on classic movie franchises like Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, and The Godfather.
There was also a hilarious round of Family Fortunes starring characters from Harry Potter and Star Wars.
The live performances were weaved in between the several top-notch short video pieces.
This included a group lip sync to Everybody Need Somebody to Love from The Blues Brothers and the Wes Anderson-esque short film The Heavenly Hotel.
Martin added: “Just about all the scenes we have used were influenced by elements of our own members' ideas.”
The colourful and glamorous set was created and decorated by the members, alongside Martin.
All of the props, costumes, video effects and lighting were produced by the Out of the Darkness tech and multi-arts teams.
The tickets for this year’s show sold out in days – a frequent occurrence for the company, which is a registered charity.
Martin said: "The amount of people that want to come and see our shows is phenomenal.
"Just about every show we do, we have to turn away quite a lot of people."
"It’s great that we've got so much support, but a shame that they don't all get to see the show.”
Martin also talked about the impact the group has on its talented and inspiring members.
He said: "I think probably the biggest thing that I've seen anybody gain from their time at Out of the Darkness is confidence.
"For me, the joy is seeing people come in who are quite timid and shy, but then give them a couple of years and they blossom.
"Around Elgin a lot of people know about Out of the Darkness and what we do.
"I think the members can have pride knowing that they’re part of something that's so well recognised."
Watch a clip HERE
