Collab Handover Minutes

31/05/19

Feedback

Shannon-General comments cast and crew: Enjoyed cast talented. Impressed by quality, due to
performers not organisation. Enjoyed intensive work. Would have to consider PT in future. Show
was overcast. Production was positive learnt everyone’s names. Sometimes made negative
comments. Clashed with roses. Lack of awareness meaning of piece.

Directors: About MPC, not fan of Saturday rehearsals. Didn’t make effort to learn people’s names.
Didn’t understand blocking. Would give specific direction and upset people even though going
through it first time. MPC made it competitive with Adam. Disorganised, difficult to work with.
Discouraging. Rectified a bit in intensive work. Relied to heavily on MDs. Talked to cast during
scenes. Didn’t get to know the cast. Glad he wasn’t there for final week. Paid more attention to
certain cast members.

Adam: Supportive. Impressed for first time director. Excellent control of room, without being room.
Only needed to block once. Sometimes undermined by MPC. Some members were forgotten. AD
sometimes overstepped mark and undermined directing. ADs had a big role. Some were being
prioritised by others. Adam made time to work on choreography despite not being time.

ADs: Some overstepped mark. Misinformation between passing work onto others. Beth good at
choreography and fixed issues.

MD: Rehearsals were fun and relaxed. Improved ability and didn’t make them feel bad.

Treasurer: Actively checked on people. Not present things didn’t happen. Tom did things out of
professionality as PM wasn’t always around.

SM: Staging wasn’t as much as expected. Some costumes were good. SM costumes weren’t 60s.
Only done in intensive week. Mics weren’t good enough for audience to hear. Lights were boring.
Would have been fine if set was better. SMs didn’t help with tech. Singing standard wasn’t heard
because of mics. Some monitors weren’t on.

Choreography: Great considering confusing. Milly and Chloe were great. Ups and downs but good
dancing by the end. LUDans should have given more detail.

Publicity: Should have been more to share.

Project manager: Most done by others not PM.

Would have been nice to have another social. MPC language was inappropriate. Ewen around at the
start less afterwards. After party not well planned. Boys did feminine moves not comfortable with.
Band should have been auditioned.

Full feedback:

Overall enjoyed show. Lovely to meet new people. Undermined directing team (AJ). ADs came to all
rehearsals. Rehearsals were crowed. Lots of contradicting information. Directors pitted against each
other. Beth godsend. Choreography was fixed by her. Didn’t want to go to rehearsals. Blocking was
done very badly. Too specific direction. Uncomfortable. Directed people standing in. Would have
been fine in intensive week. As both directors were new couldn’t teach other. Felt like MPC hadn’t
read scenes. MPC was disorganised and rude. Katie told she had no energy not true. Relied on ADs
and inflated ego. Adam supportive. Responsive to feedback. Controlling in very busy room. Alex was
patient and offered help outside rehearsals. Tom good at welfare. Let people know when to go on
stage 5 minutes in advance. SM should have done some of him jobs. Disappointed by staging. Lack of
effort. Miniscule set compared to last year. Audience found difficult to know where to look. Didn’t
know why some of dress was bought in intensive week. Lights boring. Mics had major issues. SMs
had little to no information of tech. Took too long to make set up.

Enjoyed show week. Would consider production team in future. Adams rehearsals were more useful
than MPC. MPC didn’t know cast. Less tension when he wasn’t around. Lot too many people cast.
Adams rehearsals fun. Got a lot done. Undermined by Matt in the past. ADs had favourite cast
members. Caused discomfort. AJ was pleasant with some cast and favoured some. Blurred lines of
ADs roles. Alex was good at going over bits despite not knowing much about singing. Good to start
week with singing. Choreography uncertainty not good. Milly and Chloe helped to bring it together.
Set seemed to get in the way of blocking. Audience underwhelmed by set. Lighting not very
dramatic. Expected it to be much brighter. Feedback from issues were bad. Costumes not very 60s.
SMs didn’t seem to understand some parts of the show. Publicity pictures were of varying quality.
Tom was good to have. No point giving feedback after rehearsals as not acted upon.

Adam did not let them down. When requested to go over bits made time. Did well considering
doubts in himself. MPC difficult to work with. Not pleased by rudeness to cast. Had to reblock. Once
got idea in head didn’t change. Too many ADs. One shouted out in the middle of run. Alex was
funny. Alex improved abilities. Put time out of own day to help with confidence. Band sounded
great. Problems with mics was an issue from first show. Couldn’t hear themselves due to speakers.
Let down of set. Didn’t understand PM work. Didn’t book room in advance. Only upset people.
Wished there had been more publicity. Milly and Chloe helped when needed.

Lack of diversity. No communication. Lot of people didn’t want to do the show. Organising
rehearsals was a challenge. Lack of diversity out of teams hand but very apparent. For play about
segregation was very separated. Had friends but didn’t like the atmosphere. Nobody cared about it.
Show went well. Should be fun with various societies. Societies worked separate not together.
Overcasting.

Would be helpful if could practice separate before done in front of people. Loved it. Don’t change
anything.

Big mess for first rehearsals. Made people feel bad. Was fun after that. Good experience. Intensive
week stressful as things weren’t done. Could have done with access to Nuffield sooner.

Rehearsal schedule changed a lot, even on the day. Dancing choreography changed a lot. Not much
space for dancing on stage. Lot of change for choreographers. Dance rehearsals ended with things
not being finished. Adam, Alex and Beth did well. Milly and Chloe helped in intensive week.

Most rehearsals on Saturdays. Adam rehearsals, cast worked better with him. Negative feeling at
MPC rehearsals. ADs were always present. Overstepped place and undermined directors. More of a
hindrance than help. Too many voices. Alex helped outside of time. Most productive rehearsal. Beth,
Milly and Chloe massive help. A lot fixed by Beth in intensive week. Barely saw PM. Wish there was
more publicity. Set and tech were underwhelming. Mics weren’t good so friends couldn’t hear
singing. Tom was easy to approach. Helped with singing. Gave call times. No call when Tom wasn’t
there. Nearly missed certain bits.
Organisation and schedules could have been better. More careful picking team.

More integration of entire cast. Don’t overcast show.

Good experience. Understanding if couldn’t make the rehearsal. Adam helped as much as possible.
Great director. Alex has excellent musical talent. Doesn’t change things. Costume people made you
feel special. Disorganisation. Learnt different dance for same song over and over again. Certain
scenes had more attention than others. More help to people who don’t do theatre. Hard for new
people to join. Great experience.

Show great. Energy was consistent. Band was exceptional. Everyone should be proud. Flexible with
availability. Dancing was great. Could have done with rehearsal in room with mirror. Positioning
could be improved. Experimenting stopped after a certain point. Time management in rehearsals
should be improved. Mixed emotions with Hairsprays. PM checked up more than designated
welfare. Overcast. Hindered and made things messy even if gave more opportunities. MPC should
have stuck to band not director. Choreographers were great. Mary did not take into account who
was in which rehearsal. Didn’t care about making boys do feminine moves. Rude. Made bad
comments. Left rehearsals and was unprofessional. LUDans should do trial rehearsal before show.
More time needs to be spent on dancing.

Questions:

Fi feedback: Lack of communication. Lack of rehearsal schedule unacceptable. Adam should have
asked for sooner. Directors should have talked to each other more. Should have been more clear
with cast. Lots of people dropped out. No system for what happens, or help people to prevent
people from dropping out. Attendance of production meetings low. Do people want to do it?
Headshots were a nightmare. Had to redo them. Stepped up for intensive work, otherwise was poor.
Reblocking was not good. Never sat down to discuss what everyone wanted. Need to make sure SM
are friends. Didn’t know when kit had to be signed in and out. Miscommunication about signing out
keys. Not organised. Show week was great. People complained about Beth for repeating things. Due
to being friends with people. Not needed. She had too much involvement should just have been hair
and makeup. Auditions should have had involvement of SM. Production team should have been full.
Everyone should have been at rehearsal at end of term 2. People bullied into team, should want to
do it. Ticket prices were very high. Never discussion of price of tickets. Lack of artistic vision.
Everyone doing something different until intensive week. Never moment asked what we wanted
from show. Difficult to do in production team. People didn’t know when they were needed. Need to
be excited about the show.

Adam- Messed up schedule. Should have made general structure. Didn’t fix it after choreography
mess in start.

Wanted to move certain lines from show as he didn’t understand themes of show. Too many of
voices. AJ rude laughing in rehearsal. Beth was great. Patient wished she was there earlier. Beth and
Chloe should be commended. SM had hostile attitude to cast. Set pieces not set. Wall of band was
great. Costume not planned in advance. Tech was shocking. Not enough mics. Integration of band
was great. Alex was a pleasure. Should have been kept in loop more. Tom was best welfare point at
uni. Shame if after party was planned more. Publicity was great. Casting extra people meant too
many white people in show. Made it difficult to bond. Dance day could have been planned better.
Lack of organisation but had a good time. A lot of people didn’t come to rehearsals. Should have
been thing in place if people miss.

Major organisational issues at the start. Rehearsals were unorganised. Stressful being in cast.
Hostility in rehearsal. Choreography was saved by Millie and Chloe. Beth taught with clarity. Alex and
Adam were a credit. Great atmosphere due to them. Felt comfortable talking to Tom. Intensive week
not as stressful as expected. Girl on mics was rude and didn’t know how it worked. End result was
good.

Great success. Rehearsal was poorly organised. Turning up to rehearsal for 20 minutes seemed
pointless. Only called by cast name. Needs to be better communication with choreographers.
Seemed to crumble under pressure. Need to be laid out what is asked of them beforehand. Needs
better description of roles. If vision of cast is different to director should be changed. Make sessions
shorter if possible. Intensive work was tough but good. Tech took too long. Warmups weren’t done
close enough to start.

Less reliance on intensive week. Block things before going into specifics. Directors and crew made
other not in main cast feel important. Should be more organised. Had no schedule beforehand on
when to turn up.

Personal digs that got to people difficult to watch. Great process.

Crew Feedback:

Beth should not have been in room during audition. Tom shouldn’t have been there. Not elected at
that point. Process welcoming. Welcomed to watch rehearsals and understand schematics.
Welcomed by socials well integrated. Should have been dealt with more efficiently with such a big
group. Should have had plans made in advance. Should know if needed. Helpful in planning as a
break from revision. Brilliant at learning how things worked. Intensive week was very efficient.
Ready to early on. SM not present at times. Difficult to know when things were meant to get done.
Ended up being an all nighter points. Could have done with people helping. Assistance with light
given by backstage. Didn’t understand micing. George was awful got other people to do his work.
Quicker to let different ASM know than ask George. Didn’t know how lights worked. Tech manager
did little. Had to talk to George to get him to do things. No mic test early enough in advance. Due to
timing but not reasonable. Needed leadership with rigging and lost timing. Warm up of cast was not
good enough. Poor communication with lica tech. Some people not good enough to be messing
around.

Cast very supportive. Welfare was great. Fi was great. People overstepped roles on multiple
occasion. Jackie stepped up so much. Did a lot of work of the lighting operator. Stephen was helpful
aside for some things. Lily joy to work with. Jackie great. Fiamma is a star. Professional and great at
what she does. Some people took on larger workload than expected. Some people not prepared
enough for lighting etc. In safe hands with Ewen. Tech run scary but adapted and smashed it. Lily did
well with get out. Daisy patient, kind. Good at checking in. Tom condescending to others at times.
Choreography left to cast too much. Need to commit more to role.

Appropriateness of hairspray. Just cause you can almost fill cast doesn’t mean you should. Should we
pay for scan reviewer. Final show was brilliant.

Tom was in Nuffield . Nobody told Tom that they were uncomfortable. Reason for being in audition.
Adam:

Adam didn’t realise he should have been in get in. Overcasting was an issue. Not much
communication with MPC. Didn’t know if he wanted to direct at that point. Cast based on video. Lots
of separation due to splitting into small choruses.

60 people to costume. Never asked to buy costumes. Was always people saying that they’d bought
it. Only dance chorus asked. Dance didn’t want anyone paying. A lot of dance said they wanted to
buy them back. Were asked though.

Used ADs differently. Not fair that direction due to ADs was too much. Ewen always there. Dance
had to do 20 seconds of acting, didn’t realise they had an issue. Choreography Lottie had personal
issues made it difficult. Mary doesn’t understand collab. LUdans haven’t been exposed to how
theatre do it. Missed out on start cause of bad scheduling.

Who is meant to do tech, needs more direction.

Should have scheduled warm ups better.

Questions:

Lily:

People got to work with like crew most enjoyable part. First SM and worked in Nuff. Biggest
challenges: Overcasting- early on meeting with Adam asked what wanted from set. Blocking based
off of video of revolving thing. Not going to happen. Said would be based on TV studio set of time.
Should have checked in more. Because it was overcast more set couldn’t be produced. Didn’t know if
it would fit that many people. Could probably have gone to rehearsals more to check spacing. Other
problem didn’t like the show. Production was good. Didn’t think it was a show we should have done.
Don’t do it if you don’t like the show or know the team. Couldn’t find motivation to do better. Not
most inspiring as no artistic vision. No interaction with collab committee. Not many people at
meetings. Would be helpful knowing who was on it. Felt like term show not collaboration. Only
interacted with LUTG people not choreographers. Offered people to mark dance areas. Wish could
have interacted with band more. After party organisation done as social secs of lutg. Issues with
crafty. Didn’t know they were doing it till late. Get in – couldn’t do it due to degree. Sent in plan for
others to do.

Daisy:

Would have gone to rehearsal a lot more. Didn’t know much about costume so had to turn to
others. Things got done in intensive work, because it was planned. Intensive week was worst week
of life.

Seb:

Working with crew was great. ASMs some said they were good at things and then they weren’t.
Difficult to know how lica hiring. Tom- being changed. Fi gave list of tech things needed. Lights-
learnt uv made colours look good but was due to cast being so big they didn’t notice. Pick a show
you like. Didn’t understand music would play in between songs so that’s where issues with mics
came from. Want to talk to band more with regard to mics. Collab meeting had not many meetings.
Felt like a temp show.

Emma:
Would have been easier if people turned up to headshots. Had to chase people during the holidays
while doing dissertation. Band and dance chorus were there at socials and headshots. A lot of people
came with issues and had to redirect. Should be made clearer.

Ewen:

Liked role within management. Only enjoyable if you like management and chasing people.
Choreographers and MPC major issues. Difficult to have production team meetings if people don’t
reply. Choreographers never turned up to meetings. People sat around for 20 minutes waiting for
others. Would have been good getting to know cast better. Checkins with welfare project manager.
Might have been good having PM be the welfare. Reasoning was due to Ewen being on committee.
Different people didn’t know. No collaboration with production team. Socials were good but not
made friends from life from this. Think production team should choose themselves. Should apply as
a group, have the same vision. Could have meeting beforehand through committee to choose
people. Have it only be LUTG. Would be impossible to be in role without knowing everyone. Would
be good to get to know everyone before applying.

Fi:

Did a lot more than expected and had to block some scenes. Wrote lots of documents and nobody
had read it. Do less in future would be thing to do in future. Considering blocking redone document
not needed. Make sure everyone kept in loop. Assistant before you do it. Need to know how much
you sit in rehearsals. Committee should be involved less. Likes being at auditions. Production team
didn’t run auditions. Had discussion about whether show should be casted with only a few people.
Would reach out to as many people as possible during auditions. Let production team be on control
of it. Might be worth having meetings with PM. Have it so if you want to go you go. Don’t need to
have everyone. Sort of felt like a collaboration. Feel it could be a lot more. Felt like theatre show
with a few extra people. A few people from ludans apply.

Dance- have lots of squads. Don’t get word out quick enough. If audition timing different would work
better. Dance chorus not all in dance. Neither choreographers were from ludans. 4 people from
ludans were in it. Should be where committee get involved.

Tom:

Did spreadsheets. Answer to most of the first questions. Lots of welfare issues. Had to go to most
rehearsals and having a lot of issues. Very specific to this production. MPC did nothing about these
issues. Vetting part of production team needed. Make sure RON is an option. Do spreadsheets
better. Provide better spreadsheet at start. Talked to everyone involved. Could be blended better.
Ludans could have a lot more of an involvement. Need to find roots of where this comes from.

Alex:

Enjoyed show. Band were brilliant. Loved doing it. Knew it was going to be hard. Would audition
band in future. Picked it, not given guidance. After the show had complaints that people should have
been auditioned. Frustrating people complained afterwards. Advice-don’t do it if you haven’t MD.
Have plenty of rehearsals. Committee were fine. Didn’t need a lot of support. Continuity was
important. Need same people at the start and at the end. Important. Didn’t need help. Very collaby
for ulms people. Stephen was a godsend. Without him tech wouldn’t have happened. Could have
done with more mics but fine. Auditions should be different. Probably won’t happen like that again.

Collab structure feedback

SM should make it happen, and DSM should make artistic decisions. Should get SMs who are friends.
Get different SMs going to different rehearsals. Should have artistic liberty like a director. Make sure
ideas are looked after between rehearsals.

Theatre, music and dance picks shows, and discuss. Could pick with production. Could have old
committee decide or have insight. Used to work like that. Would be a part of that meeting. Make
sure valid points like auditioning larger groups is considered. Shouldn’t have to commit as early on.
Some people might want to do it that don’t know about collab.

Issue with sister act with dance as they had hangover of bad effects.

Would it help someone from outside of music to help with auditioning of band. Not necessarily
solution, but PM doesn’t know how bands works.

Stephen was lovely. Was a nightmare in sister act.

Post show was a nightmare to organise. Lot of confusion.

People need to be paid back sooner.

Time was given very late. Needs to be clearer. Needs to be booked longer.

Main feedback is to involve the production and let them have ownership of show.

Use old time people as point of contact. Need to make sure that mistakes etc are explained.

Money being given back (due to rights that things are low) after receipts given. Next week. In next
exec meeting should definitely be done.