Disco Inferno

AAOC presented a fast moving and lively production of this show with some of the best music from the seventies – and therein lies its attraction. Numbers such as I Will Survive, Kissing in the Back Row, YMCA (in the Village People Medley) and Crocodile Rock to name but a few and all with an excellent eight-piece band under the control of MD Stephen Bradley. The show opened with Duke, owner of the nightclub “Disco Inferno” noisily preparing for the evening’s show and throwing the occasional remark to the real audience as it entered the theatre. The burly Michael McCabe was just right for this commanding role and later in the show, when he was reincarnated temporarily as the Devil. Douglas Wardrope took the role of Heathcliffe, initially the star singer at the Disco night club but in reality, an egotistical and violent character doomed to failure along with his girl Kathy, played by Mairi McCrindle. David Cannell had the honour of taking the leading role as Jack, a hopeful and upcoming pop star and about to celebrate his 21st birthday. Wendy Cannell took the role of his long suffering girl friend Jane. The occult made its presence known in the shapely form of Joanna Gallagher as the Devil’s appointed seductress Lady Marmalade who induces Jack to sign a contract prepared by some devilish lawyer, no doubt the cleric Nick Diablo, played by Ian Philp. Jack’s friends Tom and Maggie were played by Greg Philp and Fiona Ferguson and Andrew Martin took the role of the smooth talking Terry.
The show has a plot that flows into and out of “time zones”, particularly when the plot is wound back (or reset) to a past date when the only casualties seem to be Heathcliffe and his moll Kathy who are nowhere to be seen. The dialogue is humorous throughout with some very funny one-liners and the production was of the highest standard. The music belongs to the period in which it was conceived but the fascination for many in the audience clearly lay in reminiscing to the years when it was contemporaneous with their own more youthful days. This is a show for Clubs and Societies with a youngish age profile and with nimble dancers and it has been clear for some time that AAOC is evolving in that direction. With two dozen scenes and numerous costume changes for the principals, it is an expensive show to present and I hope that the success of the show has been matched by the box office receipts.                

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