24 Hours with...
24 Hours with ...
Martin Cleverley General Manager
Running a theatre can be a time-consuming and demanding business. Running two at the same time requires skilful management of time. That is the task facing Martin Cleverley, of Parkwood Theatres, who is General Manager of the Hazlitt Theatre in Maidstone, and who since January has also been doing the same job at the Castle Theatre in Wellingborough, overseeing a wide range of work to upgrade the venue. As such, there is no such thing as a typical working day although Martin tries to start work between 9 and 10am wherever possible.
He said: “I try to deal with my emails first and be disciplined about it. If you leave them too long, they can easily get out of hand.
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Meeting the demands of a life in the theatre
“At the moment, a lot of my time is spent dealing with financial matters relating to the upgrade work at Wellingborough and I like to correspond via email because it gives me a trail.” Prior to January, his main focus was the Hazlitt Theatre and Exchange Studio. Named after William Hazlitt, the famous essayist who was born in Maidstone in 1778, it opened in 1955 and is managed by Parkwood Theatres working in partnership with Maidstone Borough Council. Since Parkwood assumed responsibility for the Castle Theatre as well, Martin has divided his time between the two venues.
He said: “I tend to work at Wellingborough for the first two and a half days of the week then Maidstone for the rest of the week.
Hazlitt Theatre
“However, I like to be as flexible as I can. There are two distinct workforces in the theatre, the day shift and the evening shift, and I like to work late duty manager shifts sometimes because it allows me to keep in touch with the evening staff and also see how audiences are reacting to the shows that we are staging. “I am responsible for overseeing the programming for both theatres and I like to see new shows before we book them whenever I can. “It helps that, being part of a group like Parkwood, we also receive recommendations from colleagues about new shows. “A lot of our shows are proving very popular. The recent Panto at the Hazlitt, for example, attracted 19,300 people in a month, which meant that 92 per cent of tickets were sold, which is remarkable.
“We also have a commitment to new writing and new shows but do struggle sometimes to sell tickets for conventional theatre. “However, both venues are fortunate in having main auditoriums and studio theatres so we can stage theatre in the studios and more popular shows like musical tribute events and big-name comedians in the main theatres. We also have a commitment to community theatre and to community groups.
“I try to attend as many of the shows that we stage as I can and my working day tends to be very flexible. “I do work a lot of evenings, which means I don’t finish until 9 -10pm, but if I am working a typical day it tends to be 10 - 6pm.”
Various sized rooms to hire: Hazlitt Theatre / Exchange Studio / Maidstone Room / Gallery / 4th Wall Perfect for: Meetings / Rehearsals / Functions / Charity Events / Training / Team Building
Call: 01622 758611 www.HazlittTheatre.com @HazlittTheatre
@HACMaidstone
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