Big HOO HAA - getting too big?

We had another terrific special on Friday night, our second birthday anniversary. Twice as many teams, two musicians, two 'swing' players....a lot of toy donations given to the Smith Family Xmas Charity Appeal, and a brilliant night had by all.


Well, almost all. Unfortunately, once again, we were crowded to over-capacity, and had to turn people away at the door. Even the lucky last few to get in were unable to find chairs, and we were selling space on the floor. (A prominent perth director who shall remain nameless was cunning enough to steal the chairs from the Hoo-Haa players, making them sit on the floor...). There was also an unfortunate misunderstanding with some people who believed they'd booked and reserved a table...we apologise that it got mucked up, and we're looking at implementing a better method so it won't happen again.
It's probably time that we started looking for a bigger venue to host our 'specials'. Nobody likes turning people away, especially when we were virtually full more than half an hour before we were due to start.

Speaking of specials....it was announced that the next Big Hoo Haa special will be a 24-HOUR Hoo-Haa in September, based upon the History of the World..!! Watch out for more information as we get closer to the date!

And of course, no Hoo-Haa this Friday (First Friday of the Month Standup Comedy night instead), but we resume our normal crazy shows on the 9th July.


Cheers,
Craig

[%sig%]

> (A prominent perth
> director who shall remain nameless was cunning enough to
> steal the chairs from the Hoo-Haa players, making them sit on
> the floor...).

He certainly was prominent!

We came an hour early thinking we'd get ourselves a good seat and we sure did.. until this large fellow stole seats from the players and plonked himself down right in front of us... blocking the view for the 3 people sitting behind him!

Ah well...

Speaking as the "prominent Perth director" who "stole" seats from the cast (sorry to ruin the subtle and ingenious coded hiding my identity), I did not intend to post about this, but seeing as the matter has been raised, let me just add my ten centsworth.

The Hoo Haa is a great fun show, and a cracking evening out. I had in fact brought seven of my Improvisation Class students along to see it. We arrived at least 25 minutes before starting time, and having bought our tickets, found that NO seats at all were free in the venue. Now I don't just mean no seats together...I mean not a single unreserved seat. We tried asking the people selling tickets on the door, but no-one seemed too bothered: in fact, they just kept on selling tickets to let MORE audience in. We tried sitting on the floor: unhappily I am too old (and - let's be really honest - too fat) to do this comfortably for a show that runs several hours.

Our group were just deciding to ask for our money back, when I asked a prominent member of the Hoo Haa team, who shall remain nameless (I am getting the hang of this code thing, Craig), whether we could use the empty chairs waiting for the cast. I was tacitly allowed to understand that this person thought that would be fine so long as they "knew nothing about it". Was I upset at stealing the cast's seats? Well, they got paid for standing up, we had to otherwise pay to sit on the floor. A bit of a no brainer really.

Finally my apologies to the group whose view we blocked. Do they have a very good reason to complain? Oh Yes. To the organisers of this event. In all seriousness, to carry on selling tickets while making no provision for where the poor saps were going to sit was not only bad PR but foolhardy and even dangerous. God knows what a Fire Officer would have made of this.

You have a great show here people. Why not set some kind of safe limit (matching number of seats perhaps?) and stick to it? And perhaps get your ushers (the outward face of your company) to look as if they care about the comfort and safety of the paying customers.

Yes, the whole reason I started this thread is because I notice we need to solve a few glaring problems. It's all very well having a terrific & popular show, but ever since the first 'special event' show, there have been punters who have been disadvantaged and have suffered uncomfortable conditions while trying to experience them. For instance, my parents haven't come to see any of our big shows, because they would really hate being stuck in such a claustrophobic crowded space. The fact that the bar staff can't even squeeze in to collect the empty glasses would indicate that there's a good chance it's not exactly legal, either.

I felt bad that people had paid to get in and yet there were no seats. We were trying to reconcile that in any way we could, and it made sense to me to use the actors' chairs...they weren't going to need them while they were onstage. I don't know how to reconcile the people who were early and thought they had front row seats, but ended up behind a new row of people blocking their view...that wasn't fair either. Sorry.

The people who volunteered to operate the door were understandably overwhelmed by the number of people who arrived, also the fact that so many arrived SO early. The nature of the room is that there is no fixed amount of seating, and it's difficult to know what a reasonable capacity is. No one had thought to count the actual number of chairs, until too late. More chairs kept being brought in, anyway. By the time Stephen's party arrived, it was difficult to go in and count how many seats were left, because many people had gotten up to buy drinks in the room next door, or were standing in the smoker's courtyard outside.
It was also unfortunate that some people had brought gift donations to give to the charity we were supporting, and yet were not able to get in to see the show. I think this was part of the reason why the front of house were trying to accommodate more people than they probably should have.

I'd hate people to think the motivation for squeezing so many people in is Greed...that really isn't the case, and it's not why we're there. But I do think we are guilty of Pride. We're proud of the show and we want everyone to get in to see it. We've got so many loyal followers now it's not easy to turn people away, even when we should.

As is often the case, a bunch of performers concentrating on putting on their own show are likely to be lacking some admin/organisational skills. I know conditions haven't been ideal for some audience members, but I hope they've been enjoying more positives than negatives. Thanks for the feedback, we are endeavoring to use it to prepare ourselves better for next time.



Cheers,
Craig

Since posting the above, I've heard a counter- (or over-the-counter?) argument.


The Freo Hotel is a pub, and not a theatre venue. The building is licensed to hold about 500 people. Similar situations as the Hoo-Haa happen in other pubs where popular bands or comics play: punters come in to drink and play pool, and if they want to see the band in the next room they may pay a cover charge. If everybody happens to be in where the band is, there's a good chance it'll be crowded and hard to see; and with no fixed or reserved seating, there actually aren't any rules as to whether or not you get a seat...sound familiar?
That's partly why ticket prices are so low for our two hour show...the admission price doesn't necessarily include somewhere to sit. We bring extra chairs in from other rooms and the courtyard outside, but obviously we can't meet the demand.


Having said that, we'll still be considering better options to keep people happy at our big event shows...like at least making it clearer that the seating is limited before you buy your ticket.


See you this Friday!

Cheers,
Craig

Yes i was one of those people sitting behind you. Thank you for finally saying something it was a shame you could not of said something on the night considering my view was restricted to seeing to the top of this prominent directors head most the night. I think if it's going to be that big on a night they need a bigger venue. I'm glad they are starting on the first friday of every month as well.
Anyway thanks guys