This is a scary process and should not be entered into lightly. Well, if you do enter lightly you will soon enough realise that this is a major, scary, life-demanding process that requires the dedication of someone who realises they cannot escape. A story told in my family relates to my first day at school. Already fascinated by the theatre, and not too  shy to ask questions, my first words to my first teacher were. ‘Do you do plays?’. When she answered, that, well, no, she didn’t, my next utterance was that I would write her one and help her put it on. I was five years old. And, like all good teachers, she made sure we did put on a play. I do not remember this, nor any of the plays that followed until we did my version of ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ the year I was ten, but I do know that the theatre, professional as audience and amateur as participant has been central to my life forever.

So I have produced, directed, made costumes, taught the songs in musicals, performed, written, in amateur theatre for a very long time. And I know that it does require a dedication close to insanity to take on the organisation of a show, be it play or musical. Even to list the things needed in the planning of such a venture is to remind me of the many times I have declared this to be the last time I will subject myself to the process. But I cannot stop. So I thought I’d try to write a bit about it, which might help others to approach it with a little more help than I started with.

It really helps if there is a group of you all interested in the same thing. In most areas there are groups who already exist. You can join one of them and work your way up to the point where you are able to become part of the decision process. This can sometimes be a lengthy and difficult journey, cutting through the barriers that are formed by people who somehow think you are after their job! I mean, who wouldn’t want help with something like this? But you’d be surprised at the reaction of members of established groups to a newcomer volunteering to help.

So, in the past, I have been instumental in setting up groups and getting together with people who share my particular theatrical interests. I happen to be mad about the musicals of Stephen Sondheim, and am one of the founder members of a group dedicated to performing his works. Since he is only human, his output is not limitless, and we have not got through them all yet, so it is not too difficult to decide what next. But if you have set up a group with a bunch of friends who simply fancy the idea of getting together and having fun putting on your own productions, then it is difficult to know quite where to start.

Do you want to do plays or musicals or some of each? Do you want to do Shakespeare, or Brecht, tragedy , comedy, ancient or modern. Someone among you will know something about what is available. But nowadays this is not a problem. If you are reading this you know that you have a wealth of information at your fingertips. Any search engine will give you the route to the information you want. There are not very many companies that provide plays and musicals for public performance and they are likely to come up on the first couple of pages. There are many sites which will offer you scripts to buy, and information about them, but, unless what you want to do is out of copyright (like Shakespeare) the you will have to get permission to perform and you will have to pay to do so. The published script will have the information about rights holders. The amount you have to pay varies, but it can be quite a lot for, say, a modern musical, and some musicals you simply cannot get permission to perform, for love nor money. Most of the shows of Andrew Lloyd Webber fit into this category. You just cannot do them. ‘Joseph and His Amazing . . .’ is available for school performances, but most of the others are not.

And you may hit a snag if a touring version of the show you have chosen is happening. If a professional tour is planned then amateur rights are withdrawn for the period of the tour. Occasionally this will happen after you think you have got the rights – that’s hard but true. So you need to plan well ahead, choose your play or musical and then apply to the company holding the rights for a performing licence. Without this licence you cannot go ahead. No venue will allow you to perform if you have not got the rights, no funding will be available to you from any of the granting bodies, and you will simply be breaking copyright laws. That can be financially painful.

What you choose, of course, may well have something to do with who will be available to perform. If you really want to do a good job you will need to let people know what you are up to and hope that they will want to join you. Choose the right vehicle and you will have people queuing up for parts. Choose the wrong one and not only will you have trouble getting a cast, but it is likely you will have a tiny audience too. So make your choice, get the rights and then read on – there is much more to do, and this series may well help you to organise this insanity so that your loss of sleep is not permanent!