FOOTLOOSE

EVALUATIONFront of House Manager

• Footloose was another successful show by Priestley

Production Arts and Performing Arts.

• This time around I felt even more challenged because my

job role involved much more than before, for example:

I was in charge of others; I had to display some leadership

and be responsible for all things related to Front of House,

from programmes to refreshments.

What We Did Differently…

• Taking on board what went well and what could have been

better in We Will Rock You, we knew we could improve the FoH

with Footloose.

• We did this by changing the way the tickets were handled.

Instead of wristbands, normal tickets were sold with a small

section to rip once they had been checked, similar to a cinema

ticket.

• Reserved tickets were also left at the door this time, before the

box office opened so we weren’t wasting time going back and

to the changing rooms finding the performers for their tickets.

• Next time it could be improved still by giving full responsibility

of selling tickets, to the Front of House team. This would save

confusion between roles of the tutors and prod arts students.

What We Did Differently/What Worked…

• In contrast to We Will Rock You, we decided to approach the theme in a different way. We decided that instead of keeping with the theme of the show, we wanted the FoH to look professional and elegant. As seen in any other theatre such as the Palace or the Empire.

• We did this by making signs to temporarily cover ‘Priestley College’ banners and also change the Dance posters outside the hall to Footloose themed posters, such as ‘Tonight’s showing – Footloose 19:30’.

• We also played classical music and dressed smartly.

• I think this worked well because people commented saying how professional it was. It also promoted a slight theatrical atmosphere – we aimed to make it seem as less like college as we could. I would definitely keep this the same next year.

What We Did Differently/What Worked…

• Differently to WWRY again, we decided on the last night

to leave questionnaires for the audience to get honest

opinions about what could be improved and what they felt

was good.

• Next time we will definitely hand out more questionnaires

and we will make time to think of the questions properly ,

as we were in a rush on the night of the last performance.

• Another thing to keep the same would be the

How It Worked…

• At the first meeting, I gave everyone a role to do on the

night of the performances. However these plans changed

because Jordi was needed on the bar in the theatre, to

serve drinks for the customers.

• This left Jordan and I in the Box Office. We usually

opened at 6:30pm and remained open until 7:30pm. The

doors opened at 7pm and we realised that 6:45 was the

busiest time, therefore both of us were behind the desk

selling programmes and drinks.

Tokens…

• During the preparation process, we had the idea to sell

tokens instead of the usual way to sell drinks. Non

alcoholic drink tokens (fizzy pop, cordials and water) were

50p each and the Beer tokens were £1 each.

• They started off as both being £1 but we figured this was

unfair as the soft drinks were served in small plastic cups.

To sell them for £1 seemed unreasonable.

• We made all of the tokens ourselves on the computer and

cut them out as quickly as we could using a guillotine.

Tokens…

• A disadvantage of this was that it was a little complicated,

especially for customers.

• However eventually it did work well and it was easier once

inside the bar.

• I think it was a good idea and it could be used again,

however I would personally choose not to use that

method next time.

• Also, on the next show we should sell wine because a lot

of customers did not like the fact that the alcoholic

beverage was just beer.

Setting up:

• Setting up the FoH was straight forward every night. I provided a checklist so we knew what we had to do prior to the show.

• On the final night, we ran out of gaffa tape o stick up the signs above the doors. We had to improvise and use LX tape and blue tac. It was not as strong however it did the job for an hour or two.

• We has the idea in one of our early meetings that it would be nice to have red white and blue lights going up the wall. However we realised that this was not possible due to plug sockets and safety , so we put 3 LED Parcans on a boom and put them against a wall instead.

• It still worked well because it gave off the same effect, just horizontally not vertically.

What Went Well…

• Thankfully nothing went majorly wrong, in any department

but for Front of House everything was ready on time and

ran smoothly. This was because we were well prepared

when it came to the Tuesday night (opening night.)

• We worked well as a team I think and everybody inputted.

• At the end of each night we counted the cash and found

out that we had made a good profit. Which was great for

us because it proved that we had been selling plenty of

programmes and drinks.

However/Next time…

• However, on the Wednesday evening we ran out of change. We calculated that we would not have enough change for the interval which was a problem because many people would be thirsty.

• I went to Morrisons quickly and exchanged £15 into coins.

• This was not foreseeable but next time we could ensure there will be enough change for the following night, not the following act.

• Also, we ran out of fizzy drinks by the last night. We can resolve this next time by keeping a stock count of what drinks we have after each night, therefore we know what we need to get before the next performance.

• Next time I think we should also advertise the show more. I’d like for more people outside of Priestley to watch the performances.

Tickets / seats...