Production for Theatre Performance Essay by Leah Butterworth

My role within Arley Hall is to be part of the Front of House team. Within this role I have many duties and responsibilities that I have to acknowledge and take into consideration to complete to the best of my ability. I have researched all my duties and responsibilities for front of house for example: setting up the front area of the venue; making sure the customers have the best experience; organising refreshments; the paying system and also the overall organisation of the event. I have also looked into the hierarchal structure and where my role fits in. Even though my role is set for this particular venue there is a vast variety of different responsibilities that will vary as the venue and event changes. In the production role of front of house team I have research that the average salary is around

£21,000 and that the aim of the front-of-house team is to make the theatre a welcoming place for all visitors, staff and volunteers.

Firstly one of the most important roles of the front of house team is to make sure the customer has a great experience. This will include: Welcoming each customer with a huge smile; Helping the customer with any questions or queries or complaints they may have and referring them to the duty manager; directing them to certain locations; offering them refreshment and to take their coat or anything else to ensure they are

comfortable and also being polite and lovely no matter what happens so that the customer will feel relaxed and cheerful. This role is the first point of contact with the public so you need to be very sociable and talkative, For example when looking into the job role it clearly states on the website of apprenticeships within front of house team that under personal qualities that you need to be friendly, helpful, trustworthy and reliable. However the

importance of this role will vary depending on the different event for example in a small venue like Arley hall, it is still very important to ensure that all customers have a positive experience and are taken care of but in the likes of

a huge theatre production the venue is much bigger so the role has a bigger responsibility to help more customers and also have bigger roles with sorting out many more refreshments and also helping many more customers.

Another responsibility within the front of house role is to set up the front area and any interval break making sure food and drink sold on the premises is up to standard and ensure everything that is needed for the sale of the different things like: show programmes, ice-cream, and drinks is there and also make sure it is clean and tidy at all times and looks pleasant for the customer to see. This will vary with different performance for example this is quiet an important job within Arley Hall, because it needs to be done quickly and efficiently and still needs to be tidy so it looks presentable but in a giant theatre or in a much bigger venue there will be much more to do and therefore the job will become more important.

Furthermore, a responsibility of all Front of house staff is to make sure you look presentable and are smartly dressed at all times, this will also help to the overall professionalism of the production and this is equally importance no matter where the venue is being held or what it is. I know this because whilst researching how the ideal front of house member would be I found that within qualitative requirements is that you have a professional demeanour and image, as this is positive thing to have.

In addition to researching and understanding completely the role of Front of House, I looked at the hierarchal structure of the production roles and where my job fits in with this structure. The key to making a production run smoothly is teamwork and knowing the where you stand in the hierarchy helps to understand who you need to listen to and what you have to do. The

specific hierarchy to a production shows the relationship between the varieties of roles within the producing theatre company. This is where my role is.

The Front of House Team is at the bottom of the hierarchal structure because it is under the Front of House Manager who tells his/her Assistant Manager what to do, who then is responsible to tell the Front of House Team what to do. Overall the Front of House team has a lot of important duties to take care of and I now completely understand the roles and responsibilities that the front of house team has to take care of.