“Oh god, are you still here Jonathan?! Zzzzz”

“One thing I didnt realise is that NSOS were advertising the production on the website with the 2007 UK Tour promo video, without a disclaimer! Now, someone tell me that this ISN'T slightly devious.. not to mention downright incorrect.”

“Little to no interest! NSOS may have spent a lot, they may have I comparable stars, but if they are proud ofwhat they do and their history - tell people!! Cryptic tiny logos on some of the promotional materials isn't enough. People could be confused into thinking it's the same productionthat toured with Peter Kay, or not realise that it was produced by the group that did a wonderful production of My Fair Lady I saw at the Gaumont all those years ago. Be proud, and I crease the size of that damn tiny logo!!!!”

“This is the letter that I sent to The Editor in response to Alan Cookman's articleon the same subject. It has not yet been used:Dear Sir,

Once again, Alan Cookman has brought to public notice a major problem for local amateur operatic societies, who try to hide the fact that they are amateur in their publicity material, so that they can justify the rising cost of tickets for their shows (Sentinel, Monday).

In fact, all the companies that hold the copyright of stage musicals insist that the word amateur appears on all publicity material. The Regent Theatre management also insists that the word amateur appears in both publicity material and programmes for events and any society that omits it from their publicity is actually contravening both sets of rules.

However, there is some justification for this, as there are very few major operatic society production that are fully amateur and the more correct designation should properly be "pro-am". The North Staffs Operatic Society, for example, has not been fully amateur for many years. We are a limited liability company that employs a professional director and a professional musical director for all our shows. We also hire in professional sets, use professional sound and lighting engineers and employ a full orchestra of professional musicians.

The only amateurs in our productions are the members of the cast and we are proud of their amateur status and the fact that their performances are often better than those of the professional touring companies that come to Stoke, which often use second rate professional actors "off the telly".

However, once again, Alan has put his finger on a major problem for local amateur companies. That is the cost of hiring the Regent Theatre, which is slowly killing amateur theatre in this area. It costs around £25,000 to hire the Regent Theatre for a week, a ridiculous sum for local societies. This covers a basic hire cost and wages for back-stage and front-of-house staff and, on top of that, we have to pay commission on all tickets sold, even when we sell them ourselves!

Add to this around £6,00 for the hire of sound and lighting, because the Regent has not sufficient for a full scale production, and the cost comes to £30,000 before we have spent a penny on the production itself, which costs another £50,000. And remember, we have to try to recover all those costs in one week, unlike professional touring companies who can off-set losses at one theatre with profit at another during their tour. So, the £18 and £16 Alan mentioned as the price of tickets for our next show, The Producers, is actually quite cheap, considering that we are offering a pro-am show costing nearly £80,000 for a week's run.

When the city council first spent a fortune on launching the Regent Theatre, it was advertised as being for the community. What happened to that idea? Few local companies in our community can afford to use it now, even though the City Council uses public money to support it to the tune of over £500,000 a year! The ancient and splendid Stoke-on-Trent Operatic Society actually ceased to exist because of the exorbitant cost of hiring the Regent and their inability to cover the costs of two consecutive shows.

Thank you, Alan, for once again bringing an important issue to public attention. I await with bated breath the response of the City Council, with their solution to the problem.

Yours faithfully,

Brian Rawlins,
Chairman,
North Staffs Operatic Society.”

“This is the letter that I sent to the Editor in response to Alan Cookman's original article on the same subjext. It has not yet been used:
Dear Sir,

Once again, Alan Cookman has brought to public notice a major problem for local amateur operatic societies, who try to hide the fact that they are amateur in their publicity material, so that they can justify the rising cost of tickets for their shows (Sentinel, Monday).

In fact, all the companies that hold the copyright of stage musicals insist that the word amateur appears on all publicity material. The Regent Theatre management also insists that the word amateur appears in both publicity material and programmes for events and any society that omits it from their publicity is actually contravening both sets of rules.

However, there is some justification for this, as there are very few major operatic society production that are fully amateur and the more correct designation should properly be "pro-am". The North Staffs Operatic Society, for example, has not been fully amateur for many years. We are a limited liability company that employs a professional director and a professional musical director for all our shows. We also hire in professional sets, use professional sound and lighting engineers and employ a full orchestra of professional musicians.

The only amateurs in our productions are the members of the cast and we are proud of their amateur status and the fact that their performances are often better than those of the professional touring companies that come to Stoke, which often use second rate professional actors "off the telly".

However, once again, Alan has put his finger on a major problem for local amateur companies. That is the cost of hiring the Regent Theatre, which is slowly killing amateur theatre in this area. It costs around £25,000 to hire the Regent Theatre for a week, a ridiculous sum for local societies. This covers a basic hire cost and wages for back-stage and front-of-house staff and, on top of that, we have to pay commission on all tickets sold, even when we sell them ourselves!

Add to this around £6,00 for the hire of sound and lighting, because the Regent has not sufficient for a full scale production, and the cost comes to £30,000 before we have spent a penny on the production itself, which costs another £50,000. And remember, we have to try to recover all those costs in one week, unlike professional touring companies who can off-set losses at one theatre with profit at another during their tour. So, the £18 and £16 Alan mentioned as the price of tickets for our next show, The Producers, is actually quite cheap, considering that we are offering a pro-am show costing nearly £80,000 for a week's run.

When the city council first spent a fortune on launching the Regent Theatre, it was advertised as being for the community. What happened to that idea? Few local companies in our community can afford to use it now, even though the City Council uses public money to support it to the tune of over £500,000 a year! The ancient and splendid Stoke-on-Trent Operatic Society actually ceased to exist because of the exorbitant cost of hiring the Regent and their inability to cover the costs of two consecutive shows.

Thank you, Alan, for once again bringing an important issue to public attention. I await with bated breath the response of the City Council, with their solution to the problem.

Yours faithfully,

Brian Rawlins,
Chairman,
North Staffs Operatic Society.”

“Oh dear yet another laborious reply from Mr Beresford.

After reading with little to no interest his comments, I felt I should at least give my views to both sides.

For many years I have had several family members working in various areas of the arts. Two family members have worked across the West End and Broadway, one of which has had phenomenal success as leads in such productions as Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserable etc.

A lot professional actors who do not indulge in their own ego's will tell you that amateur groups are often much nicer to watch for serious theatre goers as their passion for the script and production is second to none, whereas with an actor(actress) who works professionally see's it as 'just another job'.

I have every faith in 'The Producers' production at The Regent theatre and can not wait to see it.

Regardless of the money spent on the show and the investment in set design I will go and see it for the passion the crew bring to the stage, which this particular group do time after time!

I know via friends that this production also has students in it that are also at college and that their skills and professionalism is second to none also.

I feel there is NO reason in which to attack the group for not making a huge fuss about them being amateurs. I can understand your frustration Mr Beresford from other productions perhaps not meeting your approval, however not all group should be tarred with the same brush.

I highly doubt this group purposely set out to deceive anyone about the production or to hide their shame at being amateurs. I do however highly suspect that you clearly had nothing to do on the day of typing your message - shame!”

“I am not questioning the quality of the production, but the blatant hiding of it's amateur status. Will you be using the full size Robin Wagner sets, with the two different Bialystock offices? Will you have William Ivey Long's costumes? Susan Stroman's choreography and direction? I suspect not. Therefore you really should make a point that it is an amateur production, not reducing it to a cryptic NSOS in thin white text, on a black background at the bottom. And if you are so proud of your am-dram, sorry pro-am status, why not announce it and be proud of it? At least the man who rang in to EP on Sunday said it was amateur, I'll give your group that.”

“Mr Beresford suggests that this "amateur" show will be in some way disappointing and poor quality - maybe he should come to see the show where he will be totally disabused of any such beliefs.
If he is referring to the amateur status of the performers then he is correct in that none of the performing cast will receive any payment for their contribution however the production is directed by one of the best and most respected professional directors in the country, supported by an outstanding orchestra of professional musicians, staged in the top local venue with a professional set that will take your breath away.
Having been disappointed by a number of the so called professional productions I have seen in recent years I can assure you that the passion and commitment of all involved will be second to none. The cast and crew have made huge commitments to the show for 9 months now rehersing whilst doing full time jobs and maintaining family commitments. All for one week when they will give it their all - not just another night trotting out another performance on the road as I have sometimes felt with the so-called professionals.
Please remember that the costs for staging these productions doesn't drop because you have the word "amateur" anywhere in your title or publicity.
The Producers will be one of the highlights of the local theatre scene this year. Call us Pro-Am if you like but come and support a local society who will deliver a performance that will leave you calling for more even though there won't be an equity card in sight.”

“Oh! look, its the BNP.”

“Nice article, but why does the advertisements not mention it's amateur status?? Radio adverts are silent regarding this matter, and posters have a tiny NSOS logo in the corner. This is incredibly misleading. It is almost as bad as when a previous amateur production of Jane Eyre The Musical, at The Regent, used artwork stating that the production was the same as the Broadway production, using the same famous director, and original set designs, which obviously it was not.”