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"When
I first joined Dolgellau Amateur
Dramatic Society, it was DADS then,
in 1999 and took over the publicity
job, there was a prevalent rumour
that the Society did not get enough
publicity. The one piece of annually
rehearsed anecdotal 'evidence' for
this was 'the audience member from
Gwynedd' who allegedly said they
had no idea there was a theatre
in Dolgellau. After a few months
of trying to get publicity
for the society when there was nothing
going on to publicise, I thought
it might be a good idea to suggest
an extension of the poetry
and prose season.
At
the time the evenings were held
once a month through a short season
of five or six months in the
autumn/winter from October to March
with a break for the pantomime.
They were held in the theatre which
was difficult to heat and
I can honestly remember one occasion
when I was the only other member
of the audience.
The
first p&p evening held in the
brand new, almost finished, club
room was something
to
do with nostalgia and it was memorable
probably for the fact that it was
a lot more pleasant and informal
in the new space.
It
was only a short time later that
the committee, decided to
extend the season and to keep the
informal ambience by using the club
room for poetry and prose evenings.
For
me it was fantastic. It meant that
I could publicise the theatre every
month and in those early days I
actually contributed to a lot of
the evenings.
The
size of the audience didn't matter
that much; people were there because
they wanted to be and the people
who read were quite frequently folk
who didn't 'perform on stage'. It
was lovely. People were allowed
to laugh and applaud as and when
they felt it was appropriate, the
themes of the evenings were not
set in advance and if sometimes
the 'co-ordination' of an evening
was not 100% 'professional' it didn't
seem to matter. People seemed to
enjoy the evenings. I enjoyed them.
Sometimes it gave those of us who
feel moved to write creatively,
whether poetry or prose, an opportunity
to present our work alongside more
'recognisable' writers.
Times
change. Expectations change.
Things move on.
A
poetry and prose evening is not
really successful, scarcely merits
a mention in Committee Meeting minutes
unless it has a 'full house'.
I
confess I have drifted away from
the more organized and dare I say
regimented
evenings.
I
think it is not the size of
the audience that makes a
P&P evening -- or any other
production -- a success, it's how
much the audience who did
turn up enjoyed it and how much
the organizer of the evening enjoyed
doing it.
P&Ps
are special for all sorts of reasons.
They are meant to give their audience
pleasure and entertainment whilst
not having to take the trouble to
follow the sometimes bum
and mind numbingly boring vagaries,
twists and turns of
a standard 'am-dram' favourite and
they are also meant to give the
people who organize them a way of
contributing to the life of the
theatre even though they may not
want to go on stage or direct a
'full length' play.
And
so what if there's only one man
or woman and his or her dog or deaf
granny and so what if a kettle explodes
or someone forgets to bring their
glasses or the things they're supposed
to read with their glasses.
Of
course it's good if you get a full
house but it's not the end of the
world if you don't. If your audience
has had a good time listening and
you've had a good time reading,
then, for my money, you've had a
resounding success
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