My Job Role: Problem solving

With the responsibility of FOH manager, came the occasional problem that needed to be dealt with appropriately and promptly to ensure that all duties were still carried out to the highest possible standards.

Absence: On the 2nd night of the performance, a member of the FOH team was absent, and had not made contact at any point during the day with myself or any member of the FOH team or production crew. Therefore, being a member down, more work needed to be done in less time. The solution to this was to instead of pre-setting the Wicked Cafe at the 17:30 call, as the audience wouldn't see this till the interval, the FOH team member responsible for this would now help with the setting up of the Foyer and with Box Office. And after the audience entered the auditorium, we would then all aid said crew member in setting up the cafe, as we now had less time to do this.
This is a perfect example of how communication is vital in the successfull running of a theatre performance.

Communication with audience: Before the audience were let into the auditorium, as FOH Manager i had to explain to them that each night was sold out, and therefore every seat in the theatre needed to be taken, and to avoid parties having to sit separately, could they please fill the seats from the middle out and leave no gaps. However on opening night it was clear that this was not listened to, and we felt that this was because not everyone was listening to the announcement. Therefore to account for this, on the remaining two nights, a member of the FOH team walked the length of the que and asked the audicne to listen to announcement that was about to be made. Also during the interval, we used the tannoy system in the Wicked Cafe to announce that act II would begin.

 

 

 

Missing Props: Due to performers not placing their props back on the props table, some props did go missing during the night, which meant that some members of the crew had to run around trying to find them on top of their other responsibilities. This could be combated by having one crew member man the props table and ensuring that they are all returned after use. Also, if all performers were made aware that they MUST return all props, or hand it to a crew member to return to the table, this would result in less or no losses of props.

 

Performers not applying Mics properly: As performers were eager to get into costume and get on stage, they would often rush through the changes and therefore their mics were not applied properly so their voice was not picked up whilst they sang. Next time, the performers need to be told that they must stand still and wait patiently whilst their mics are fitted, or be trained how to fit a mic them self.

Performers not stacking set appropriately:  During the penultimate scene, the performers throw several bales of hay backstage for the crew to then stack appropriately. However on each night there was no care taken into how they passed the bales over. They were rushing too much and made it difficult for the crew to get a hold of the bales to then stack backstage. The solution to this would be simply more staffing. Additional crew are needed so that they could grab the hay themselves and stack them appropriately.