Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Saturday 16 June 1928

The Drama In Yorkshire.

The announcement that four amateur dramatic societies—the Swinton Players, Wombwell Thespians, Denaby Church Players, and Thurnscoe Amateur Dramatic Society—have formed themselves into the South Yorkshire Drama Federation is interesting for more than one reason.

These four societies can hardly be said to be representative of the amateur stage in South Yorkshire, though the first-named has no small reputation, and unless some the larger societies, particularly some the societies in the one big city South Yorkshire— Sheffield—join the group, it can hardly be said to have much of claim to the representative title it has chosen. Whether other societies will join remains to be seen.

But the interest of the experiment lies elsewhere. It lies first in the ambition of small amateur dramatic Societies to improve their standard by competition. The Federation proposes to hold an annual local Drama Festival, and the spirit of competition thus invoked is bound to have considerable effect in stimulating the keenness the members of the four societies. More important still the interest of the experiment lies the fact that it is representative of the hard work and enthusiasm of amateur actors all over the country at a time when the English theatre is in a sufficiently feeble condition even in London, and far worse than feeble condition in the great cities of the North, two redeeming features stand out—the Repertory movement and the amateur stage.

The Repertory movement, invaluable as a training ground for actors, hampered In the more important task of producing new and valuable plays by the very fact that it is professional, and so to some extent commercial. We say that pioneer work on the purely literary side is of primary importance, because it is not the standard of acting to-day so much the standard of play-writing, and still more of the appreciation of good plays by the general public that is at fault. It is here that the amateurs come in. They have already done a very great deal of good work.

The possibilities that before them are almost unlimited.