How Much Do Show Licences Cost? And How Can We Raise The Money To Get One?

[BlackRoseThorn]

Hey, I was recently put on the student council for my amature dramatics groups and at our meeting this Tuesday I plan to put forward the idea of getting licences to perform proper west end musicals rather than the scripts written by the woman who runs it. We're on a limited budget so I will have to also have sugestions to raise the money to buy them. So I'd like to know much much it would cost. Which leads to my question...
How much money does a licence actually cost?
And does anyone have any suggestions for raising money?

[boxtops]

Hi Blackrose, I'm involved with for a local community youth theatre group, and depending on where you go, show licences can be really expensive, plus you have to pay for script hire (approx £25 a copy and you're not allowed to photocopy them). It depends on the show - if you go somewhere like the London agencies (I won't name names), it's hundreds of pounds for a show licence for say max 6 performances. We've done We Will Rock You, Our House, etc., and it's not a cheap option. However there are other organisations who can help you and guide you - may I suggest you look somewhere like NODA http://www.noda.org.uk/ who are really helpful to get you started. I know what you mean - a well written script can make all the difference.

[Buenchico]

Browse through the plays available through Samuel French (who are among the biggest suppliers to amdram groups) here:
https://samuelfrench-london.co.uk/

You'll see that most plays have a fee code listed. See here to translate that to the actual payment required (per performance):
https://samuelfrench-london.co.uk/plays-to-perform/fee-codes

Copyright lapses in plays 70 year's after the writer's death so you could, for example, perform Lady Windermere's Fan without payment.

Further plays are available from Joseph Weinberger:
http://www.josef-weinberger.com/

Chris