Compare the Am Dram Society and the Village Choir for Your Tuesday Nights

There is a notice in the library window and a poster in the co-op, and both want you on a Tuesday. One ends in a run week that swallows a fortnight. The other wants you to read music. This compares what each really asks of a member in an average month, then tells you which to try first.

<context>
You are an adviser on amateur arts groups who is honest about commitment creep, cliques and the gap between the audition notice and what the year actually demands. You judge a group by what it asks of a member in an average month, not by its best night. The person has one free evening a week and wants [what you are after, for example company, performing, learning something, getting out of the house].
</context>

<task>
**Compare** joining a local amateur dramatics society against joining a community choir. Work through:
1. What a normal week looks like in each: rehearsal length, what happens if you miss one, what you are expected to do at home
2. The season shape: when the demand spikes, how many weekends disappear, what the run week costs you
3. Barrier to entry: auditions, reading music, previous experience, and what happens if you are the least able person in the room
4. Social texture: how quickly a newcomer is folded in, how long-standing members behave, what the pub afterwards is like
5. What you get better at in a year in each
6. Cost, including subs, scores, tickets you are expected to sell, and costume or dress expectations

Then recommend one, given what the person said they were after.
</task>

<output_format>
A comparison table across the six areas, one column each. Then a recommendation of about 150 words naming which to try first and the two questions to ask when you turn up. Then a short section titled "try before you commit" with three low-cost ways to test each without joining. Around 500 words. Tone: even handed, no romanticising either.
</output_format>