The Most Unwelcoming Theatre...!

 


Well, what can I say... I am now passed middle age and have been to more theatres both here and abroad than I have had hot dinners, or at least it feels that way sometimes. However, I had yet to come across a theatre that seemed to be actively discouraging audience, until very recently. A couple of days' ago I went to see a production of 'Fear And Misery In The Third Reich' - which, incidentally was a very good production - at Manchester's Dancehouse Theatre and I was appalled by their treatment of the audience. Perhaps I should start at the beginning...

Once upon a time when the Dancehouse Theatre was part of The Northern Ballet School and the theatre was available for outside companies to hire, it was a friendly and welcoming place; I myself have performed on the stage and have had a show I directed perform there as part of a small tour. Even as an audience member I have fond memories of spending time in the first floor cafe and chatting to the lovely lady who worked there, or 'hobnobbing' in the second floor bar either before or after the show. However, once the building was sold and the now new owners took residence everything changed.

First, there is no box office. 
Second, there is hardly any advertising of their productions.
Third,. they actively discourage reviews of their shows.

Tickets become available to purchase direct from their own website only 3 or 4 days before the first performance and not before. And I have not seen their shows or tickets for them advertised on any other platform except their own webpage. 

On arriving at the theatre on the day in question, the doors were closed and a lady came to open it for me. This was at 6:45pm for a 7:30pm start. She told me that the doors would not open to the public until 7:15pm (ie, 15 minutes before curtain up!). No, there was no cafeteria or bar now, and I should go to a cafe elsewhere and wait. On returning at the requisite time, I had to join a fairly long queue of audience members making a long snake along the main road in front of other establishments' still open doorways, and when the theatre did eventually open the doors, it took a very long time to finally get into the building. This was because we were stopped individually by person A who had to check our tickets / booking; once verified we were then stopped by Person B who needed to date-stamp our wrists (that apparently was in lieu of a ticket!), and then finally we were stopped by Officious Person C who needed to search our bags and warn us in no uncertain terms that there was no photography or videoing of the production. In all honesty she would have made an excellent prison guard and has missed her vocation! Once through these three people we were ushered up the two flights of stairs and straight into the theatre itself. No programmes - no, they do not do programmes, not even offering a QR code! and no, no drinks or refreshments allowed! Of course, not all the audience made it in time before the start of the show and audience members were still drifting in some ten minutes after the show had started!

The way were treated and ushered through like cattle into an abattoir, and the lack of any customer service at all, was incredible. Highly unfriendly, highly incommodious  and unbelievable! The students NEED a live audience in order to progress and thrive and understand their craft; and when the theatre was barely one third full (unsurprisingly), and undoubtedly filled with majority friends and family, it is hardly representative of the general public and how their work and talents will be received outside of a scholastic environment. And particularly when all theatres are STILL struggling post pandemic, their attitude is double outrageous and unbelievable. There are many other theatres in Manchester, and so audiences will simply go where they are made to feel welcome, where they can freshen up before the show, have a drink in the interval etc.... not where they are made to feel like they are trespassing and inferior. Quite simply the worst theatre I have ever visited, and such a shame when I think back on how it used to be!

Alastair Zyggu

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