TITANIC, THE MUSICAL,

TROWBRIDGE AMATEUR OPERATIC SOCIETY, CIVIC HALL, TROWBRIDGE

It may not have a Kate and Jack sailing out on the Titanic with Celine Dion singing My Heart Will Go On in the background, but that does not make this performance any less dramatic. The cast clearly poured all their energy into this production.

There were some lovely characterisations; the designer and builder Thomas Andrews, played by Sean Andrews, was well portrayed, while the love between the not-really-married Charles Clark and Caroline Neville, played by Matt Heaton and Mari Webster, was also touching.

There were also some fine voices singing out into the audience. I particularly liked Simon Cotton, who played Fleet while Pete Grant, who played Etches, the senior first-class steward, also deserves a mention.

Another strong point was the programme, designed by Viv Luckett. Packed full of facts and figures about the sinking of the ship, it informs the audience of the death toll, and gives information about those who died.

A downside, however, was the volume of the orchestra, conducted by Helen Bilkey. The performers did their best, but during an orchestra crescendo in a room as large as The Civic Hall, their words were swallowed up. Many lines in the first half, when the audience was grappling to understand who was who, were also lost. The noise created by the backstage crew was also a problem. Not only could we hear them moving the furniture but we could hear them running from one side to the other behind a closed curtain. Fix those and director Paul Butler has a show of which he can be proud.

Nadia Stone