Kate

Head of Front of House

I'm the head of the Front of House team at Lowry. I've been part of the team for 25 years, and it’s been amazing. I started off as the assistant house manager back in 2000 and I was here before the building opened. It's been really brilliant to see it coming together, the changes and developments that have taken place and building up the team from the very start.

My role is looking after the volunteers, our Welcome Desk team and everything to do with front of house – especially managing the theatre shows. From meeting the visiting companies, making sure that they've got everything that they need, to ensuring the theatres and foyers are ready to receive our audiences. We also manage the stage door team, they're the first port of call for any of our backstage visitors.

Millions of people have come into this building over the last 25 years. When they come through the doors, it's me and my team that are here to welcome them all. Making sure that they've got everything they need whilst they're here for a performance, selling them programmes and merchandise, making sure that the seats in the theatre are ready and starting the show on time. We're the guys that make all the announcements telling you to get to your seats. So when you're trying to finish your gin and tonic in the bar and someone’s saying, ‘Ushers, close doors’, that's us making sure everyone gets to their seats before the show starts. We're here for everyone's comfort and enjoyment, to make sure that everyone's safe whilst they're in the building, but, most importantly, have a good time.

I'd always wanted to work in theatre. I did a performing arts and theatre management degree, so I knew that's where my heart lay. When a role in this brand new venue came up it was meant to be. I remember my husband and I driving down to the Quays, doing a recce the day before my interview. There was just nothing here. It was dirt tracks coming into the Quays, and there was this half-built building.

At this point, I wasn’t quite sure, but then the minute I walked in and met the artistic director, who interviewed me along with the original house manager, I was in. It was so exciting to be part of a project that's just about to open with theatres, art galleries, restaurants, shops, everything in one place. It was such a unique thing. We’ve got some great theatres in Manchester, but then in Salford to open this brand-new arts centre in what looked like a completely desolate place, you knew that it was just the start of something big.

I remember on my first day rocking up in my brand-new suit, all excited, and I was given a hard hat, a pair of wellies and a high-vis jacket. And I thought, okay, I'll come in jeans tomorrow. I was house manager ready, but the building wasn’t. It was so exciting to see this team of people that have come from all these different places, different venues, coming together to open this amazing venue. It was scary too, a lot of responsibility!

One of the biggest things that we did right at the beginning was build our volunteer team, and now we've got over 300 volunteers that help us in the theatres. They’re just amazing. About 25 of those volunteers have been with us for the full 25 years, which is really quite impressive. Every year we build up the volunteers and bring in new people. They're incredible. 

Our very first main stage production was the Paris Opera Ballet’s La Bayadere, and they had a life-sized elephant on the stage. It was so ambitious for a new venue, but we pulled it off. I was still recruiting volunteers and staff at the time and as we needed people to help, the chief executive at the time had his mum was selling programmes for me in the foyer, it was a proper all-hands-on-deck time, but so much fun. And 25 years later, I've still not forgotten that.

I've got a great team. We are very close knit. My deputy manager Diana has been with me the whole time. One of our Technical Managers, Adam, also started with me 25 years ago. I'd only been here a week, and Adam rocked up with his tiny baby in his arms, and now that baby, Ben, is our bar manager. A lot of family members have ended up working here, and that's really lovely. There are a lot of long-stayers here, and I think that says a lot about the values that the Lowry holds and how we're looked after.

It’s lovely when people come back round and you meet them again. The visiting companies, especially some of our big partner companies, like Opera North and Birmingham Royal Ballet and the National Theatre, they're coming in as old friends, which is comforting.

It's always nerve-wracking when you get a technical hitch. It’s live theatre, so understandably things will happen, things might not work as you want them to work. So sometimes you'll have 1700 people sitting in the theatre, and the show has to stop. It doesn't happen often. And we're really lucky, because our technicians are just incredibly talented. But there is always that worry, will they be able to fix it? Will we be able to carry on with the show?

I think because our most of our front of house team are volunteers, and the majority of our audiences know that they're volunteers, they talk to people as if they're part of the family. We have lots of regular customers as well that we've got to know over the years, and they come back time and time again.

Superstition is a big thing in the theatre. We always check that everything's in place, everything's in order. Lights are on where they need to be on. Going down into the basements before a show is always a bit spooky. Even though it's a relatively new building, it’s built on a very old piece of ground where a lot of things have happened over the years, I'm sure. So, we do get a little bit nervous sometimes when we're checking backstage, and if the lights aren't on, it can be quite eerie.

We follow the traditions. We won't whistle in the theatre. You don't say certain Shakespearean plays, you say break a leg instead of the other one. I've got some friends who work in really old theatres and they are really scary. But not here, I don't think we've got any spooky ghosts. Though we always look at Box Five in case the Phantom’s up there….

I love shows that the National Theatre bring to us. War Horse always stands out for me, I always think that's just one of the most incredible pieces of theatre I've ever seen. They did Ocean at the End of the Lane, which was another brilliant performance, the staging is incredible. I also love anything by Matthew Bourne, they’re always special pieces. We have some great comedy here, a lot of comedians like doing the smaller spaces, and they'd rather do two or three nights with smaller audiences than one night in a big theatre, because they feel more in touch with their audience. It’s quite intimate.

Christmas at the theatre always brings the most fantastic atmosphere. The audiences are always really excited, and they usually come in big family groups, spanning generations. We’ve got The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe this year, which is a stunning, absolutely beautiful show. We did Elf one year, which was really good fun, but I think my favourite one was White Christmas. It snows in the auditorium when they're singing White Christmas, and all the audience just get covered in snow, and it's just wonderful watching people look up as the snow comes down. I’ll always remember one night where the skies outside were really clear, but by the time the show had ended it had snowed really heavily – so the audience left the snow covered auditorium to deep snow outside – we were like, that’s the magic of theatre!

We love shows with special effects, it’s always magical for the audiences and we always get asked how it happens – but we never give away the secrets.. Some shows, you'll have confetti cannons, and when a confetti cannon comes into the auditorium, that's it – you get covered! We have leaf blowers to gather it all up at the end, and because of our environmental policies we recycle it. 

When we had Elf, Father Christmas arrives on a sleigh and it flew out over the auditorium. That was really cool - the children in the audience were in awe.

I think theatre gets inside you, doesn't it? If you love coming to the theatre, then I don't think you'll ever stop going. And I think that's why we've got so many volunteers, because they are all people who love theatre and just want to get involved in as many shows as possible. We always say to them, sign up for the shows that you may never, ever dream of going to see as a customer, because you'll see something unique, you'll see something that you didn't know you might like, you might see something you think, oh, my goodness me, that wasn't for me. But then, you've really opened your minds. We've got a lot of people that may never have seen an opera before, or a ballet, or a particular comedian that they've seen in one thing, but wasn't sure if it was for them and they just come away thinking, wow, that was incredible.

I feel incredibly lucky to have been at Lowry for 25 years – in part because of my amazing team, volunteers and co-workers – but also because of our incredible audiences. No 2 days are the same!