Theatre director Barry Bailey is hoping that audiences will give an emphatic nod of approval when he stages "A Chorus of Disapproval'' for the BMDS at Daylesford this month.

The play, which had a long run in London, is by Alan Ayckbourn, one of Britain's leading playwrights, whose acerbic comedies expose the complicated frailties of human nature.

"It centres around an amateur opera society which is staging a production of `The Beggar's Opera','' explains Mr. Bailey, "It's a very funny play and, of course, Alan Ayckbourn always crafts his characters so beautifully.'' Appearing in the play will be John Thompson in the role of amateur director, Daffyd ap Llewellyn, Steve Dudden as the newcomer Guy Jones, Lyn Tavares as Hahhah Llewellyn, and Helen Coffey as Fay Hubbard.

"We have a good mix of old and new faces, which I think is always a good thing,'' says Mr. Bailey. "It's quite a big cast -- 13 in all. John Thompson has done some musical work and is doing extremely well, and Steve Dudden was in `The Little Foxes' and `The King and I'. But for Lyn Tavares, it will be her first speaking role. Helen Coffey was the actress who stepped in, almost at a moment's notice, to take the lead in `The Glass Menagerie'.'' Others in the cast include such well-known board-treaders as John Instone, Jim Stroeder and Libby Durrant.

The musical director is Louise Bradley, most recently seen onstage in "The Merry Wives of Windsor'' and who was also the keyboard accompanist for the recent Old Time Music Hall at Daylesford.

Choreography is by Coral Waddell who has just directed the Bermuda Civic Ballet's production of "La Peri''.

Mr. Bailey says he was surprised -- as he usually is -- by the way the auditions turned out: "Penny Halliwell, who has a lovely singing voice, had just literally stepped off the plane and turned up for the audition. Some of the people whom I thought would have suited a certain role ended up with another one, and then there were a couple of people who had just come along to help out with the reading and ended up with a role.'' Yes, he insists, BMDS does hold auditions for each production.

"But there is always an ambiguity. Our house rule is that you cast from the auditions, but at the same time, you have to give the drama committee some idea of how you're proposing to cast it before they give the green light to go ahead!'' Mr. Bailey, who has previously directed three major productions at Daylesford, including "When the Wind Blows'', Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead'', and "Extremities'', says he was attracted to the Ayckbourn play for several reasons.

"I always have a pile of plays sitting on the coffee table! I've never done a comedy before, and this one, in particular, struck me as fun -- and it will be a big technical challenge to pull this one off at Daylesford. So `Chorus' eventually came to the top of the coffee table pile.'' Most of Mr. Bailey's theatre background has, in fact, been in the area of stage management, in charge of such productions as "Joan of Arc'', "Pinter Trilogy'' and "Crimes of the Heart'' for BMDS, as well as "The King and I'', "The Boy Friend'' and "Carousel'' for the Gilbert & Sullivan Society.

Mr. Bailey defines the job of stage management as "reproducing in each performance for the audience, the show that the director put together''.

He explains that, officially, the stage manager takes over responsibility for the production on the first night, but in reality, that process begins with the technical rehearsal.

"We do it that way because, as an amateur group where everyone works during the day, we don't have the time for extra rehearsals as you would have in the professional theatre -- so we have to go with what we've got.'' He goes on to comment that the job of a stage manager is, in many ways, similar to that of the musical director or conductor. "It's all about timing, and controlling a group of people. The day to day task is also very much a case of `trouble shooting' -- where you go around shouting, `Let's go now! The house is in, let's pull the lights and get on with it!''' `Chorus of Disapproval' From Page 23 It is very rare, he says, for any show to go smoothly. "For example, in `Carousel', we were suddenly faced with the possibility of the lead male being pulled off to go and fight in the Gulf War. And `The King and I' was very difficult, as it had the biggest sets I've ever seen, and in the humidity they warped and didn't fit as they should have done. You can generally bet that the more the audience is aware of the people backstage, the less successful the show. We've had actors lose their lines and on one occasion an actor went through the same page, mentally, three times, so we had to send someone else onstage to back him up and to take the script forward.'' Another problem for amateur groups, he says, is that lack of time means that the understudies are not auditioned or rehearsed. "And in any case, who wants to be an understudy? It's not as if you can suddenly find yourself launched to stardom, as has happened in the professional theatre!'' The biggest problem, however, according to Mr. Bailey, is the sheer cost of staging even amateur theatre.

"I've been the treasurer of various theatre groups and I'm always staggered at the costs involved. Performance rights for most plays is about $300, but for a big musical, such as `Evita' which the Gilbert & Sullivan Society did last year, cost thousands -- and in musicals, you have to pay the musicians.

Then there's the cost of advertising, which is high.'' Luckily, says Mr. Bailey, the BMDS has always been fortunate in the number of people who help out backstage. It may not be generally realised, he points out, that for each person onstage there are usually four people backstage.

"A Chorus of Disapproval'' runs at Daylesford from Friday, September 15 through Saturday, September 23 at 8 p.m. Tickets at $10 from the Box Office from September 7 to 14, from Mondays to Fridays between 5.30 and 7.30 p.m., on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. and on show nights between 7 and 8 p.m. No telephone bookings will be accepted.

A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL -- Rehearsing are (from left): John Thompson, Steve Dudden and Lyn Tavares.