Following our AGM we are excited to announce the winners of the 2024 DMTC Membership Awards!
Mary Hamilton was one of the stalwart members of DMTC when the company reformed in 1956. She played many lead soprano roles for the company and later sang in the chorus as well as serving as our Assistant Secretary for many years. She always encouraged younger members and this award was set up in her memory by her daughter. The future of the Company is in the hands of these younger members.
The award winner this year joined DMTC in 2015 to work backstage on “A Tale of Two Cities” and he successfully auditioned the following year for a Chorus Principal role in “Sunset Boulevard”. He has since appeared in several other DMTC productions including “Evita”, “The Best of British Musicals” and most recently as a Chorus Principal in “Chess”, the Rich Man in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and Buggins in “Half a Sixpence”. He always gives 100% of his abilities and relishes his time on stage.
His commitment to all of our shows that he has been involved with made him a worthy winner of the 2024 Mary Hamilton Award. The award goes to Chris Coates.
Mary Robinson’s Award was set up as a way of honouring a long-serving member of DMTC. Mary herself is an example to us all of someone who has given selflessly to the needs of DMTC for over 68 years. She is still working on our behalf and we all owe her a huge debt of gratitude for all she continues to do for us. All previous winners of this award have contributed enormously to the success of the Company and this year’s winner is no exception.
He joined DMTC in 2008 for our concerts of “Noel and Ivor”, and so began his introduction to the world of musical theatre. In “Fiddler on the Roof” he doubled up as a bottle dancing Jew and a Cossack dancing Russian! He was the Wine Seller in “Scrooge” and in our musical tribute to Richard Rodgers, “Some Enchanted Evenings”, he portrayed Martin Charnin. He played the parts of Jacques in “A Tale of Two Cities”, Lycus in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, the Finance Man/Jones/Salesman in “Sunset Boulevard” and the Captain of the Nancy B in “Carousel”. Following his covid illness, he has continued to perform in the chorus whilst undertaking supporting principal roles in all our recent shows. In our latest show, “Half a Sixpence”, he was a very amusing ‘jobsworth’ deckchair attendant.
It is with great pleasure that we present the 2024 Mary Robinson Award to Steve Hill.
This is only the fifth time that the Pauline Gilman Bowl has been awarded, being instigated in 2018. Pauline joined the company under our former guise of Durham Amateur Operatic Society and performed mainly in the chorus but she did also undertake a few small roles. The Pauline Gilman Bowl was set up by her husband in 2018 to honour a devoted member of the chorus. The previous winners are all long serving members of the Company who are really the backbone of the Company. They have shown great loyalty over many years, as did Pauline herself.
This year’s recipient joined DMTC 30 years ago in 1994, when we still were DAOS, to work backstage on our pantomime “The Sleeping Beauty”. The following year he decided to tread the boards for our production of “Oliver!”, when his eldest son Sam was a memorable Artful Dodger. The Society became a family interest when his other son Joe and his wife Kate also became involved. He has gone on himself to play many character parts in several main shows and especially in his great love – pantomimes, notably in “Peter Pan”. Also, at Gala he was one of the two comedic Clerks in “Gigi”, the Turnkey in “A Tale of Two Cities”, Erronius in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, Pops in “Kiss Me Kate” and a hilarious woodworking student in “Half a Sixpence” – just don’t ask him about his horse, I mean dog! I am therefore thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2024 Pauline Gilman Bowl is our dear friend Rob Gair.
