2 weeks Ago
ON any weekday evening, in village halls and community centres up and down the country, you will find a bunch of people trying to pull off a tricky song and dance number surrounded by fold-up chairs and trestle tables. Am dram is an easy target for mockery - but it’s a tough gig. You try throwing heart and soul into an Alan Ayckbourn or an Ado Annie showstopper after a long day at work.
.. Amateur theatre has been an integral part of the nation’s cultural heritage since the 1800s.
It’s the sheer love of the stage - the ‘smell of greasepaint, the roar of the crowd’ - that drives these dedicated troupers to put on shows in their communities. Usually their curtain calls are confined to provincial town halls or little theatres, but recently a cast of amateur actors went beyond the barricades and made national headlines. Four West Yorkshire theatre groups - including Bradford’s Buttershaw St Paul’s AODS - became the first amateur theatre companies in England to perform Les Miserables.
It was the first time in the 40-year history of Les Mis that amateur societies were allowed to stage the full version. Les Miserables: Let the People Sing, a project launched by Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Music Theatre International to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Boublil and Schönberg’s global phenomenon, has given the rights to 11 amateur productions around the UK this year, while the main show continues in London’s West End. Last week a cast comprising Leeds Amateur Operatic Society, Buttershaw St Paul’s, LIDOS and Wakefield West Riding Theatre Company performed Les Mis to packed audiences at Leeds Grand Theatre.
It was an unforgettable experience for these performers, with some saying they’d always dreamed of being in the epic musical. The show had glowing reviews, with one critic declaring it had “set the bar high” for the other theatre companies. That’s the thing about amateur theatre.
It’s actually very good. Am dram is much mocked for its wobbly sets, over-acting, fluffed lines, fragile egos, but I’d say it is much misunderstood (give or take the odd fragile ego - this is theatre after all, darling). If you’ve been to an amateur production lately you may well have been impressed with the quality of acting, singing, dancing and direction, not to mention the work that goes on behind the scenes.
Some performances I’ve seen wouldn’t look out of place on a professional stage. Some big name actors started out in amateur dramatics societies, not least Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Keira Knightley and Liam Neeson. These societies play a vital role in communities too, providing affordable access to plays, musicals, opera and concerts, and giving many children their first taste of theatre.
I grew up with am dram because it was my mum’s passion. Every week she’d head off to rehearsals and she’d practice the songs at home, belting out showstoppers while doing the ironing. I still have programmes of shows she was in, from The Mikado to The Sound of Music.
On opening nights we’d troop along to watch her on stage. Some shows were creaky (The Desert Song was hilariously bad, with strapping Foreign Legion soldiers played by middle-aged blokes puffing and panting through the French Military Marching Song) but some were glorious. Juggling rehearsals (most nights a week ahead of show week) with a fulltime job must have been exhausting but, like all amateur thespians, Mum loved it.
Bradford has a long history of amateur theatre, linked to its industrial heritage. Many mills had drama and choral societies. I have a soft spot for am dram and I’m glad it’s still going strong.
NODA has a membership of more than 2,500 amateur theatre companies, many with thriving junior sections. Theatre snobs can scoff, but there’s nothing amateurish about putting blood, sweat and tears into demanding rehearsals in draughty church halls after a shift at work. That deserves a standing ovation.
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