Defying the final curtain call: the Cardiff Players are an amateur dramatics group with high hopes despite a diminishing audience base.

A dog is also running around amidst the hustle and bustle, chasing a tennis ball. It’s unclear who it belongs to, but no-one bats an eyelid (except to apply a coat of mascara). You can hear the faint boom of bass through the walls (perhaps an aerobics fitness class downstairs).

The history of the Players: a montage of posters in the dressing room.

“Five minutes! Is everyone ready?” is shouted into the room. The audience have already taken their seats.

The Cardiff Players celebrated their 80th anniversary last year. Founded in 1927, this amateur dramatics group has outlived its founding members and even survived the Second World War. Yet, as their audience numbers are ever-diminishing; the group faces a new challenge as the year 2009 dawns.

It’s a problem that’s not unique to the Cardiff Players; the government are to launch a scheme for 18-26-year-olds this February, offering free tickets for selected theatres across England. A Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) spokeswoman told the BBC she hopes it will not only get young people interested but also build a new audience for theatre.  

 Budding thespians

“How do we get an audience into this theatre in this day and age with the situation we’ve got now? We’ve got an auditorium that can take around 139 people; we have less than 40 in the audience for the opening night of the play,” says Chairman of the Cardiff Players, David Joyce, “Years and years ago, we used to play to 1500 per week. We struggle to get 400 in now.”

“That is where theatre is at the moment. It is     struggling.”

         Chairman of the Cardiff Players, David Joyce

“What will get you out of your house, away from your computer and DVD – and the pub – to come and watch a play?” continues David, “It’s an interesting dilemma that I’m not sure we’ve got the solution to. Or maybe there isn’t a solution because that is where theatre is at the moment. It is struggling.” 

The Cardiff Players are based in the YMCA. Its building is run down and hidden in a dead end street in the city centre. But behind corridors of rooms; past the chess club and through a set of double doors marked with a simple plaque, is one of Cardiff’s treasures: the Players’ theatre.

The Players spend six weeks rehearsing for each play and perform five plays a year.

As the performance of Derek Benfield’s Bedside Manners breaks for the interval, the lights go up on a sea of grey hair. Tea is brought into the theatre on trays and served by other Players members in cups and saucers. “This used to be a science laboratory,” says 72-year-old Diane Stanford (a former Players member) in between sips, “These seats used to be in the Capital Cinema on Queens Street. We built it from scratch and it took a lot of hard work. Even on Saturdays….” Diane is cut off mid-sentence as the raffle draw begins. A raffle, tea and cups and saucers do not often feature in an average young person’s night out.

Young people are controversial

“More experimental theatre and plays about rape and murder will get teenagers interested,” says Sarah Bibey.  

But controversial productions do not guarantee younger attendees, as David Joyce reiterates. “People might say, ‘you’re not going to get young people to come and see these plays’, but the more controversial and the more provoking we get with language and everything else, we seem to get less audience,” he says.

Despite the lack of a young audience, the group is in no short supply of young members or new recruits; during one regular rehearsal night, no less than three new people are being shown round and introduced.

The Players take part in several competition, including the Glammies: the Glamorgan Drama League.

Amateur is on the main bill

“We have all the facets of creative arts, in our own theatre, with our own venue, with our own facilities, second to none in amateur terms.

“With a limited membership, we don’t do badly. We are a drama group with an overarching ambition to invite and involve people…Look at the people now: they come down, they want to be involved,” continues David.

And that is precisely the point. Whilst depleting audience numbers is a concern, it is not formative in a lasting impression of the group. Talk to the members and they recount the years of their membership and dedication. The Players exude an inspiring enthusiasm for theatre and the legacy of the Cardiff Players, who have built a theatre of its own, with their own hands, and are intent upon continuing for many more years.

The Cardiff Players' next performance: The Ghost Train, 4-7 March 2009.