“Amateurs, as the word implies, do it for pleasure – hence the cliche that am-dram is low in quality but high on winning enthusiasm. The pros get all the credibility, the part-timers get bigger audiences: 7.3 million people at 25,760 performances by Noda (the National Operatic and Dramatic Association) members in 2002, the most recent year for which figures are available. While the cultural cognoscenti sneer, am-dram gets on with being our real national theatre, beloved of the kinds of crowds the pros can only dream of attracting.”