Evaluation

Footloose

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.

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.