Kara Girvan

Front of House - The faces of the theatre.

The front of house of a theatre refers to all areas accessed by the public, including the auditorium. Front of house staff look after the public to make sure their visit is safe and enjoyable.

The front of house department looks after the day to day management of the theatre. Usually there is at least one manager who employs the front of house team.

The front of house team’s job is to make the theatre a welcoming place for all visitors, staff and volunteers and to give them an enjoyable visit by being warm, welcoming and friendly.

Some of the responsibilities of the front of house team is:

The safety and security of the public during the performance and whilst they are on the premises, you can do this by making sure you don’t over fill the space to avoid crowding and accidents.

Ordering and organising the merchandise that is sold on the days of the shows but they can work with the marketing team for this responsibility.

Checking and maintaining a high quality of food and drink that they are selling, you can do this by little things like making sure you have suitable foods and drinks for a wide range audience like having vegetarian options. Sometimes the theatres come with a catering team but for a smaller production e.g. Arley Hall the front of house team will deal with things like refreshments in intervals.

Managing the box office, making sure they know how many tickets they have sold, how many people are in the auditorium at all times.

The front of house manager also employs front of house assistants to check the audience's tickets, help them to find their seats, and make sure the theatre is safe during the performance these are usually called ushers.

The overall presentation of being front of house is a big deal with how they dress and how they present things and themselves; this affects the professionalism of the company you are working for. This can be achieved by things like having a matching uniform and taking pride in the displays that you make like the refreshments this then giving the audience faith and trust in the company and the venue that you are associated with.

To get into front of house theatre work a lot of people begin by applying for jobs as ushers or box office sales assistants and work their way up like any other jobs in theatre. A lot of front of house employers look for people who have experience in retail or customer services.

They need to have good people skills as they interact with the audience and become almost the face of the theatre as they are the people you see when you arrive, in the

Kara Girvan

interval and when you leave. Business skills are also handy for front of house work with the box office; IT and basic maths knowledge are helpful.

Responsibilities can differ depending on what venue you are working with e.g. At Arley Hall you can have some front of house staff on car park guiding the audience of where to park and how to get in as Arley Hall is only big house, where as the Christmas show at Priestley College doesn't really need car parking staff because it's not as big and confusing as to where you go.

There is a wide range of management and business training, you will need to gain work experience in the job to further your career in being part of a front of house team. Contacting theatres, arts centres, and even cinemas to gain box office experience would be a good idea. You will need to build on people skills and knowledge on how different shows run!

I researched the hierarchal structure of the production role and where I fit in the production. This hierarchy structure shows the relationship between the different roles and makes sure the show runs efficiently. Within the structure I am the front of house team this is below the front of house manager and assistant, the structure helps me understand who I need to listen to and who to take instructions from.

This is one of the job descriptions on the website that gives you a little bit more information of the job like the company and if it’s a temporary or permanent job.

The following screenshots are examples of jobs in the industry from the website “Total Jobs” they list the job title, the location of the job and the salary.