On Pit Musicians and Amateur Theatre

OK, so as The Secretary was kind enough to invite me to post on this blog, I thought it'd be only fair to contribute something.

Now I've not done a great deal of am-dram in the past. There was one production of 'The Hired Man' with Leicester Youth Arts in Edinburgh back in 1999 (my first musical and one of the greatest experiences of my life so far; having just turned 18 and being let loose in the 'Burgh during Festival time). The rest have been GMTG productions, a GMTG spin-off (Tristan Baker Productions' 'Little Shop', Northampton, 2000) and another GMTG spin-off (Through the Window's 'Assassins', Edinburgh 2008). And then there were the three Birmingham Uni Summer Festival Operas (only one of which, 'The Rake's Progress' involved my participation on the night, as a waiter in the brothel scene (dropped trousers and all) and as stage manager/repetiteur/assistant MD).

In none of the above did anyone actually get paid. Fair enough; why would you pay a bunch of school kids taking advantage of a slightly creaky but admirable youth theatre group or, subsidise the frankly terrifying alcohol/nicotine/cocaine (it happened) habits of Birmingham Uni students?

This is where things get a little cloudy for me (nothing to do with the above paragraph I might add). I have no experience of your stereotypical, G&S butchering am-dram-op societies (save for a single performance of 'Madama Butterfly' by a Midlands-based society in which the titular 'teenage' heroin towered over her suiter, was of 'advanced' age and wore some kind of over-sized hat box on her head, a production saved by the ardent singing and acting of my then boss at the Birmingham School of Acting. But then I would say that). As far as I'm aware, no-one in that production got paid either. How could you afford a Puccini-sized orchestra if you are an amateur company?

Do any 'traditional' am-dram-op societies pay their musicians?

I ask this firstly because I really have no idea. But more importantly I have had the privilege to work with a Birmingham based 'amateur' theatre group, named after the theatre in which they are housed, for four years and a total of eleven productions from Sondheim to 'Acorn Antiques' via 'Boogie Nights', 'The Full Monty' and, erm, 'Dad's Army' (an on-stage appearance in which I, thankfully, did not have to drop my trousers and simulate a threesome with two prostitutes). No member of the company gets paid. Not the creative team, or the committe, or the box office staff, the technical crew, the cast. As part of their committment to the company, each member is expected to do occaisonal shifts on the bar. And they have to pay a membership fee.

The band however is paid.

Is this fair? I can see the logic; with only a total of four rehearsals (band call with the cast, band tech with the cast in the auditorium, two dress rehearsals) it is surely wise to 'buy-in' crack players who could sight read their way out of an MC Escher creation and still accompany the cast with great sensitivity and flexibility. And these types of musicians are busy; they teach, they gig. It is their career. Everyone else is indulging their hobby; those who want to use the experience to further career are generally students in limbo between generalised university/college courses and postgraduate study elsewhere. And they rehearse for months at a time, several times a week. Try finding musicians of the calibre necessary who would be willing to devote all that time for free. When I MD'd 'Guys and Dolls' for GMTG back in 2002, I had a whopping 56 hours of rehearsal with my band. But those guys were not being paid. The results spoke for themselves but I think it highly unlikely that any professional producing theatre would be able to run to actually paying 26 musicians a decent fee for 56 hours (before dress/tech/performances), let alone an amateur one.

So four rehearsals for a properly trained, 'professional' band of eight working for £35 per call seems like quite a good deal to me. And I have been known to 'help' behind the bar. Usually on last-night parties.

So, should band members be paid by amateur companies? Is it really fair that those who put in the months of hard work that make a show have to pay for the privilege whilst their 'in-one-day-out-the-next' band members manage to earn just enough to cover a week's drinking,smoking and curryage?

I know what I think but, then again, I'm slightly biased.

Owen