The Little Theatre Guild has about 90 member drama groups, each of which has its own theatre (i.e. it either owns its own Theatre, or else has an exclusive long-term tenancy agreement). Apart from this requirement, which is a condition of membership, the drama group are expected to present plays which reach an acceptable production standard, and prior to acceptance for membership, one or more performances by the aspiring drama group require to be watched and approved by representatives of the Guild.
The Guild has regional subdivisions, and each region has periodic conferences at which various presentations, talks, and demonstrations are provided by various regional members, occasionally operating in harness. Although we have a representative to the Little theatre Guild, any member of the Society is welcome to attend the conferences, in fact the more the merrier!
In 2011, Sir Ian McKellen, who was then the LTG Patron, took another step along the way to fulfilling his pledge to visit every theatre in the Guild during his term of office. He described our theatre as "a little gem", watched part of a rehearsal for Gaslight, and, from a chair in the middle of the Gaslight set, conducted an informal discussion about the problems facing amateur theatres. He left us in no doubt of his love for the amateur theatre: "The professional theatre wouldn't be where it is without the amateur theatre", he said, "every professional actor you've ever heard of probably started off on the amateur stage, and we should support them".
Our Little Theatre Guild representative is Michael Smith.
