Adam Burgan, Arts & Entertainment Manager at The Octagon Theatre in Yeovil.
One of the joys of managing a busy regional theatre is that there is no such thing as a ‘normal day’. While some tasks and duties remain the same you never really know what opportunities, challenges and, at times, rather surreal moments will come your way. At the moment we are in ‘pantoland’ with a spectacular pantomime production of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. The show runs for 49 performances (our biggest ever run) with two performances a day so the theatre is a hive of activity with large school groups in the day and then family audiences in the evening.
Over the next few weeks over 25,000 people will ‘climb the beanstalk’ with Jack on a magical adventure and my job is focussed on ensuring that everyone has a happy time at the theatre and to lead and support my team in delivering their roles effectively in order to achieve this. Theatre is a ‘leisure choice’ and though I would consider it essential to living a happy and fulfilled life it is important to recognise the various barriers that people feel may be in their way. It is our job to try and make patrons entire experience of visiting the theatre the best it can be, from the moment they pick-up a brochure, to booking a ticket, making their way to the theatre to the time they step through the door and until they leave. I feel that a large part of my day is spent speaking to staff and trying to ‘keep the team happy’ something that isn’t always possible but we know the key to success is communication and trying to keep the team focussed and working together to achieve a common goal – making our customers happy. Using the word customer I also mean the artists who perform at our theatre – it is important for us to ensure they are happy and have everything they need to give the best possible performance.
Much of my day will be spent speaking to agents and producers and local companies looking to bring their performances to the theatre. Programming is one of my favourite parts of my job and the most satisfying. Booking in an artist I know will prove popular (especially if I’ve been trying to book them for a while) is very rewarding. A number of meetings normally looking at future events and projects will always be on the agenda and one of the things we have grown very successful at is building partnerships with organisations we have a shared agenda with and who can help us to achieve our goals.
Throw in some budget monitoring, a walk around the building to check on our maintenance, checking figures for last night’s show and a look ahead at sales figures for the shows on sale and a trawl through the endless amount of emails and phone calls and the day quickly fills up. ‘Theatreland’ certainly isn’t a ‘9-5’ job and nor should it be. Evenings are often filled with the choir I teach at the theatre on a Monday night, popping in to see some of the performance (even if I can’t stay for the whole show) or supporting local events – I judged ‘Strictly Come Langport’ last weekend! There is never a dull day at the theatre and though it is long hours, and as with every job, there are ‘ups and downs’ I still consider myself very lucky to work in a place that brings joy and happiness to thousands of people every week. I have the pleasure of working with a very talented and dedicated team of people who share my passion for theatre and I try to remind myself that there really are dream jobs and I am one of the lucky ones who found mine.
