Exploiting AmDram’s training potential

Librarians, journalists, wine merchants, university staff, teachers and the like stunned the audience with the quality of their work - as at COS they always do. David Gower, a deputy head teacher in real life, gave us a well judged, funny, charismatically sung Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, alias Robin Oakapple. Jessica Lawrence-Hares treated us to a fine, impeccably sung Mad Margaret oozing stage presence. And that’s mentioning only two of a strong cast.

For an annual membership fee of £10 - yes £10 - plus shed loads of time and commitment these people are trained for weeks by Music Director Brian Thomas - a professional orchestrator and arranger. The ensemble work he coaxed from the chorus in the madrigal is exquisite. At the same time COS members get training from professional director Alistair Donkin who works with them intensively for a month before the first performance.

It all adds up to a remarkable training package and it’s hardly surprising that you often find trained professionals - who don’t happen to have work - taking part in amateur productions for the love of it. Also unsurprising is the frequency with which seasoned amateurs - trained by practice and rigorous rehearsing over many years - move into professional work.

Kent-based Matthew Craven, for instance, now runs Cameo Opera - a well established professional cabaret opera group - with his wife, Judith Buckle a career singer. Craven cut his teeth as an amateur singer with Sittingbourne AppleCarte (long since defunct) and started Cameo Opera, now his full-time job, after being made redundant from something quite different.

So it seems to me that any wannabe professional music theatre practitioner who sneers at amateur work is overlooking some pretty good opportunities. Any one got any shareable experiences in the grey crossover zone where amateur and professional work merges?