TAVISTOCK Musical Theatre Company is celebrating a major donation towards an exciting digital projection project.

County councillor for Tavistock Debo Sellis has given a tenth of her locality budget — £1,000 — to the fund to buy a piece of equipment which will project digital images onto a screen, reducing the workload for the production team, saving storage space and allowing the company to put on a greater range of shows.

Creating and building sets takes many, many hours work for each production so being able to project digital imagery onto a screen will make a massive difference to the company.

Chairperson of TMTC Karen Batson explained: ‘It’s the way theatre is going at the moment. We will still have all the props on stage and the actors of course but the scenery backdrop will be digital.

‘It’s all professionally produced and yes the equipment does come at a price but we can offset the costs by not having to build scenery which takes two or three months to do.’

Karen added that the company could use everything from the professionally produced big show sets and even animated sets to local artist drawings.

She said the projector and equipment cost in the region of £3,000 so the donation would go a long way to help.

‘It’s hugely exciting and a big step towards achieving our goal. We have wanted to do this for years and it’s going to make everything so much easier.

Cllr Sellis said: ‘I am delighted to be able to help. It’s such a worthy cause as theatres brings people together and TMTC is a big part of our community.

‘As a councillor is is nice to be able to spend taxpayers money on something that will have so nuch benefit — and bringing joy into the world is just what we need at the moment.’

TMTC is putting on its first show since the pandemic hit on November 13 in Tavistock Town Hall.(see advert on page 19)

Entitled ‘All Together Now’ it will be musicals feast featuring songs from shows such as Oliver, Les Miserables, Hairspray and Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

Fundraising will contine in earnest to get the remainder of the money needed for the projection project with coffee mornings and carol singing outside Morrisons in December.

TMTC prides itself on being an all encompassing theatre group with no auditions necessary to join the company. If you would like to join the chorus or work behind the scenes please contact Karen on [email protected]