2. Positives
• Comments were made by staff and audience that the front of house area
looked very professional in comparison to previous shows. This was due to
the use of the box office desk, poster space, the podium and clear queuing
area for the audience. By adding all of these new elements it gave off a
very professional first impression and also transformed the college
reception into a foyer of a theatre.
• The whole show had an American theme and this was carried
throughout, from the seating area in the auditorium with the bar to the
lighting design. Although the lighting design was very simple red, white
and blue, it was very effective and enhanced the performance well.
• Although there was only a small number of crew backstage, they coped
well with the numbers they had especially with the full cast quick change
before the finally.
• Another positive was the communication with the crew
backstage, everyone knew their role and what needed doing, they worked
well together as a team to make sure that the backstage area ran as
smoothly as possible during the shows.
3. Weaknesses and solutions
• Audience members fed back that they would have proffered tiered seating as
although the tables were in keeping with the theme some audience members had
difficulty seeing the show. This could be easily solved so that if we were to have
tabled seating again have less audience members to prevent anyone’s view being
blocked.
• The microphones used for the performers proved faulty during the shows due to
the ariels not being able to receive signal, this was due to the number of people in
the space. This could be combatted by getting new mics as they need replacing
and also having a smaller audience to ensure less interference.
• An issue arose when DSM tried to get into contact with the stage manager
backstage, the issue was that because there wasn’t enough crew it meant the
stage manager couldn’t be on coms very often which meant messages couldn’t be
relayed to backstage. The fix this issue we would simply need more crew members
to help operate the backstage area.
• An issue with the show was the Bar-B-Que sign although it could be seen by the
audience the lights within the sign couldn’t be seen properly and you couldn’t tell
it was light up. To fix this I feel more planning should have gone into the sign
before it was made so that we could test it before the plotting and tech/dress
runs.
