Melbourne Festival summary 29th October 2014

Melbourne Festival summary 29th October 2014

The 2014  Melbourne Festival was the 29th and I provide my summary:

Buying tickets:

I was in Chicago with my partner in late July 2014 when trying to buy tickets this year.  I always buy our tickets on the first day of Melbourne Festival tickets going on sale.  This year it was more difficult than ever, partially due to the lack of an international direct phone on their website from the day ticket sales opened.  This apparently changed after I provided the Melbourne Festival with feedback.

I must thank the staff who did assist me with the tickets and the emails.

With my experience in project management and particularly projects that re-occur annually, like the Melbourne Festival,  they need to evaluate more rigorously and improve upon their systems.  Do not go backwards and delete information from the website or the booklet.

Brochure:

When we arrived home the Melbourne Festival brochure had been delivered.  There was no mention of an international booking phone number as in previous years.  For example please refer to page 74 of the 2013 Melbourne Festival brochure that clearly outlines under "Booking Information" there is a sub heading "By Telephone" that states "Call Ticketmaster on 136 100 or from outside Australia +613 8623 2139.

When we arrived home I tried four times to buy tickets for "Since I Suppose."  We finally bought them, thankfully.

They should include all venues on the maps, as does the Melbourne Fringe Festival brochure that uses more than one map.

I provided feedback to the Melbourne Festival regarding "Early Works" by Trisha Brown Dance Company and was not impressed that the brochure did not state there was no seating, nor that we could photograph or record the event, nor was there an announcement stating such at the Meat Market.  They made a minor alteration to the website after my feedback.

Venue announcements:

I am not impressed with the inconsistent pre-show announcements at each venue.  "Off" with a phone is off.  If they choose to say "please turn phones to silent" then include "This means no texting during the show" as stated at the New York City Centre Theater.  I am sick of attending theatre and having people rudely texting or taking photographs during a show.  The ushers need to be more vigilant.

In 28 years of attending the Melbourne Festival, and seeing many shows each year, there is only one show that we have attended that has started on time.  Interestingly it was driven by technology and time.  The only show to begin on time was "Since I Suppose."

An aside:

The timing of the Melbourne Festival was perfect as I was able to show my friend around Melbourne.  I had worked with her on an Australian tour in 1978/79.  As a former circus and aerialist performer and at 78 year old, former circus performer from the USA, I was conscious of her interests and short amount of time.  Sadly she was unable to see any shows and it was lovely to be able to introduce her to the Golden Mirror Carousel and the Vault Exhibition.  She was so thrilled with the circus theme within the festival and left her with such fond memories upon returning to Melbourne.

My Favourite show:

My favourite shows this year was "Since I Suppose" by One step at a time like this.  This show should have gotten 9/10 but did not due to the difficulty in buying tickets.  Ironically I was in Chicago for ten days when they were probably rehearsing in Chicago.

I was so impressed with the communication from "Since I Suppose" before the event.  This built my curiosity and interest.  They had a Question and Answer session on Tuesday 28th October that was wonderful to be able to celebrate such a unique event, meet with the cast and crew, and also to give closure to a very good Melbourne Festival.

Congratulations to Josephine Ridge and her team.

Overall the 2014 Melbourne Festival gets a mean average of 7.2/10.  This is a good score that had a consistent standard and we only saw two shows that brought this score down.