Kelly Apter’s year in amdram
In her drama student days, Kelly Apter appeared as an extra in a classic soap (Brookside) and an Oscar-winning movie (In The Name Of The Father). Here’s what happened when she gingerly began to tread the amateur dramatic boards many years later
It took me three attempts to walk through the front door. The first two times I saw the lights shining inside the church hall, as people walked purposefully towards the entrance, and hightailed it back to my car. Despite performance being the centrepiece of my life (from childhood groups and a degree in drama, to spending my professional career writing about it), this was a new and slightly nerve-wracking endeavour. When I told my daughter I was thinking of joining an amateur drama group, her response was: ‘But what if they’re terrible?’ I responded that if they were terrible, I wouldn’t go back. And, of course, they weren’t.
Joining any new group can feel like the first day at school, with pre-formed cliques to navigate. But when I finally plucked up enough courage to enter the building where Edinburgh Theatre Arts (ETA) meets and rehearses, I was met by a sea of smiles and handshakes. And once they got stuck into the business at hand (auditions for their upcoming production of Agatha Christie’s Go Back For Murder), it was clear the group had passion and talent in abundance. And why wouldn’t they? One of the great fallacies about amateur theatre is that it’s all wonky sets, bad accents and ham acting, when the reality is that most groups are populated by people with skill and ambition, just no desire to live the unpredictable life of a jobbing actor (and who can blame them?).
ETA has been in existence since the late 1940s and has many an impressive production under its belt. Their repertoire includes everything from Michael Frayn’s Noises Off to Molière’s The Misanthrope, and even a production of Macbeth in Scots. Delivering two shows a year, in the spring and at the Edinburgh Fringe, the 2025 programme was to include the aforementioned Christie and Oscar Wilde’s A Woman Of No Importance. But how to get involved? The reason I found myself standing at their door in the first place was a desire to fuel my own creativity for a change, rather than only writing about other people’s. In what capacity though, I had no idea. Like anything in life, you get out what you put in, so I offered my services to anyone who might need them.
Fast-forward 12 months and I have sourced props, changed sets, helped prompt during rehearsals, taken on a fairly large role during the Fringe, performed in a murder mystery, and am now assistant director on our upcoming spring double-bill. Twice a week I set aside my work and family concerns for a few hours and race off to join in the fun. Only now, I can walk through the door at my first attempt...
Edinburgh Theatre Arts performs Looking For The One and The Line That’s Picked Up 1000 Babes at St Ninian’s Hall, Edinburgh, Tuesday 14–Saturday 18 April.