Members Area
Members Area
Three of the participants at Wednesday’s meeting: Chairman Philip de Glanville (centre) with Treasurer Nigel Strawbridge and Secretary Pat Sollis at last year’s AGM.
Observant visitors to our website will have noticed that the Somerset Fellowship of Drama’s strapline is: “promoting amateur theatre throughout the county”. On Wednesday night a special gathering of the SFD committee and the competition moderators considered the vexed question of what constitutes amateur status. On the face of it this sounds simple. Amateurs don’t get paid, professionals do. The reality, however, is very much more complicated.
In some societies, musicians are paid. In others, Mrs Tinkerton from the WI does her utmost to play Prince’s Purple Rain by ear. Not always a great sound, to be honest. While Mrs Tinkerton is clearly a valued amateur, do those paid musicians count as amateur or professional? You could argue that they are not professional if musicianship is not their primary source of income. Many are bank managers, solicitors, accountants, teachers and clerks in their day job. Yes, it’s their hobby, yes they are brilliant at it but, nevertheless, some of them charge for their services when tooting the flute in the orchestra pit, while others don’t.
The same conundrum extends to other areas. Is it fair to compare hired-in costumes – designed and manufactured by fully qualified professional teams – with a set of chorus dresses run up by Joyce and Sue as a favour to their big brother Bert who’s agreed to direct this year’s musical in the village hall? How do hired sets – crafted by professional carpenters, designers and painters – sit in competition alongside Alf and Marjorie’s handiwork when they started off with only a sheet of plywood and a length of two-by-four?
On Wednesday night the committee considered all these issues and sought to ensure that, as an organisation, we were staying true to our stated aim of promoting amateur theatre. After all, whether or not the sets and costumes are hired, whether or not the choreographer and director get a fee, it remains almost exclusively true that those people on the stage are not paid a penny and are doing it for the sheer enjoyment. Indeed, not only are most of them unpaid, they will have put their hands in their pocket to fork out for subscriptions, travel costs, items of clothing and to contribute to the bunch of flowers to say thanks to Mrs Tinkerton.
In its deliberations, the committee recognised that professional input can be very beneficial to amateur theatre as a whole. Professionally run dance classes inevitably improve the standards and quality of those who have benefitted from years of coaching and tuition. A professional director can take amateur performers to heights they never thought possible. A hired set and professional lighting can greatly increase the audience’s enjoyment of the work of the amateur performers, and make it a truly tremendous experience for everyone involved. So the SFD is not in any way disparaging about the benefits professionals can bring. Nevertheless, in line with our stated aim, we endeavour to recognise and reward amateurs, not professionals.
In doing that, we have tried to make sense of the varied nature and make up of societies – and the wide mix of professional involvement – in as simple and pragmatic a way as possible. And so the committee has agreed a number of minor, but significant, changes to be implemented from the start of the new season in each of our competitions. These are set out below:
Some of these proposals will influence areas that are not usually affected by professional input. Props, for example, are often the work of a whole host of club members with many people denuding their homes of sofas, tables, chairs, cushions, tea sets and other paraphernalia to create believable sets. So, again we will award trophies for props to societies rather than named individuals.
It should be said that, even though those who are paid a fee will not be eligible for nomination, we will still critique their work in our adjudications on an equal footing with everyone else.
By these simple changes we hope to ensure that we continue to promote and celebrate amateur theatre while acknowledging the increasing level of professional input adopted by some societies. Each competition panel now has to flesh out these new guidelines to see what it means in practice for their particular competition. But next season, do expect more awards to be given to societies rather than individuals, except, of course, when it comes to the individual amateur performances we see on stage. Best Female Singer might well still be Tilly Tinkerton (Mrs Tinkerton’s daughter) and Best Dame could still go to Tommy Tinkerton (no relation)!
Finally, we would welcome your thoughts on these matters. If you would like to comment please email [email protected]