Her Majesty's Theatre
On Monday the 28th of October, the year 10 event management class was fortunate enough to have a private tour of Her Majesty's Theatre, led by the amazing tour guide and front of house manager, Danny Alder We learnt about the history behind the building (from circus space to theatre) including how it bounced back after being burnt down, how that also impacted the architecture of the building and the owners pay respect to the original building. We also got the view from all the different levels of seats and discussed how the sales for all the seats works.
We got to see rooms that have not been seen by the general public and told facts about the history of the theatre. Our tour guide told us funny and interesting stories about each of the rooms we saw, which made the excursion even more interesting. We were lucky enough to visit the Mike Walsh Room, where famous/extremely important people go to, including Cyndi Lauper during the very popular musical Kinky Boots as she wrote the music.
We also got to explore life behind and under the stage. We saw the orchestra pit and the confined space they have to work in. After that we went up to my personal favourite, the back stage hallway, we saw paintings of all the shows that had been performed at the theatre with messages from the people involved. We went through to the dressing room with all the wigs, props and costumes on display ready for the next show.
The best part then came - we had the chance to step onto Her Majesty Theatre's iconic stage and see the set for Her Majesty's current production of Charlie and the chocolate factory and we learnt how much music, lighting and performance affects the show from HMT’s Production Manager, Matthew. We also saw how many sets were up above the stage. Overall we learnt how the show is brought to life and some of the secrets behind the stage.
Overall, we all had a great time exploring this historically rich and beautiful looking theatre, and learnt a lot about what goes into the events held like seating and preparation of the shows.