One of the key features of Stagedoor Learning is our commitment to our students to enable them to find out about the Performing Arts industry from the outside in, and this has meant finding out about what happens on stage, backstage and front of house, at every point during the process of bringing a show to an audience.

This week, our students have been learning about the duties of a front of house team, and the important role that team plays in the running of an event. And, since this is Stagedoor and not a school or college classroom, they did this by becoming the front of house team for a professional production. Having spent a lot of time, so far, at the Everyman in Cheltenham, the Stagedoor students are pretty familiar with the theatre, but for this week, they were based at the beautiful King’s Theatre in Gloucester. Hammerpuzzle Theatre Company, who performed their fantastic and charming plays The Tales of Hans Christian Andersen and A Gloucestershire Midwinter at the Everyman at Christmas, spent the week performing for audiences in Gloucester, and Stagedoor students worked front of house. We were lucky enough to be able to see rehearsals, technical rehearsals and production runs of these shows before Christmas, so it was great to be able to see the process from another angle.

Stagedoor student Kelly said about her experience:

“The experience was a real insight into the whole industry. The amount of marketing that went into this really surprised me, as it was a change from the Everyman being so well known that flyering was not needed, but because the King’s theatre wasn’t as well known, the flyers out on the streets and in shops will really help to extend the amount of people coming. The flyering out on the street was the hardest part of the day in my opinion, as we had to aim for a specific target audience for “A Gloucestershire Midwinter”which was hard to find… I thought it was a really fun experience to be able to help backstage in an actual performance, and to see what happens from a non-actor’s point of view. It has really opened my eyes to how important Technical Director Corin’s job is and how communication between everyone on the team is vital.”

Stagedoor Learning – providing opportunities that students will simply not get anywhere else.