Went to see loose ends and change this evening and the sound was terrible when change was singing his voice was not coming through clearly at all and the lady singers sound engineer not good
Show was fabulous great seats and a great venue . Staff for security and seating very nice .
Bar staff slow and unhappy to queue 25 mins for wine in a plastic cup is not good enough
I went to see Jimmy Carr show yesterday. I was seated in the stalls, AA seat 20, and for the first 30 minutes, I couldn’t hear anything. From my position, I had a clear view of the technical console, and I noticed that the issue seemed to stem from there. One of the staff members joined the engineer, who had been struggling for some time, and only after 30 minutes was the sound finally adjusted.
While the sound improved, Jimmy Carr himself expressed frustration with the sound feedback, prompting the engineer to lower the volume again, which made it difficult to hear once more. It wasn’t until halfway through the show that the sound became consistently clear, after someone in the audience shouted that they couldn't hear.
This experience spoiled the first half of the performance, and I even considered leaving, despite Jimmy Carr being one of the best performers I've seen at the venue. It seemed like even Jimmy was irritated by the situation, as he didn’t laugh or engage with the audience as much, likely due to the sound issues. It's unfortunate, especially for a show titled "Jimmy Carr: Laughs Funny," that we barely heard him laugh.
Given the recent investment from the community into refurbishing the venue, it's concerning that such technical issues might deter artists like Jimmy from returning.
I have visited the ‘newly’ refurbished venue three times in the past few months, specifically to see the talented Matt Walters at the concert organ in the Fairfield Concert Hall.
The facilities are fairly dire, if you want refreshments or comfort (last November there was no heating and I froze!) they are patchy or non-existent.
The publicity surrounding any event either here or the attached Ashcroft Theatre is virtually non existent too, if I hadn’t heard from the artist himself, I would never have known about the performances.
The very least you can do for your first ‘Associate Artist’ is to ensure he plays to a well filled house!
I have been going to the venue pretty much since it opened in the sixties and I’ve never seen is so desolate and deserted.
We went to see one night in Nashville. A young lady who worked there called Ramona made the experience so much better than it would have been. She politely asked people to turn off their phones and also remain seated so others could see. There were a noisy group off women who were chatting and laughing really loud during the performance and she sorted that out to. The male workers did nothing to help out ! The act was brilliant, shame about some of the audience !
Went to see the pantomine , Aladin. Arrived half an hour before the performance thinking we could get a drink before watching the show. Queued for 25mins to get served, one member of staff working. They kept announcing 15 mins til showtime. 10 mins to show time etc . When they announced 5 mins until show time they decided to get two more members of staff out to serve! By this time there was much shorter queue as many guests had given up and take their seats. We entered the auditorium with a few minutes to spare and there were some really tall prople in front of us and approx 100 seats behind us not being used so we started to move when a very rude member of staff who had already allowed another family to change seats came over and said that the seats were still for sale and people could still arrive! I explained that I had checked the seat map and all the seats behind were still available! She then . Said that people could buy tickets on the door! We were the last people at the bar and there was no one queuing at the box office as we entered! I wouldn’t mind if she had t allowed another family to move, you can’t one rule for one and one for another. Anyway I told her we would move if someone came In and she still said we could not move. I told my daughter to sit where she liked and the staff member then spent the whole show staring af her and pulling spiteful faces, making her feel uncomfortable.
The show itself was pretty poor. I went to another panto last week that was amazing in a nearby town! Aladdin cost is £183 for a family of 5! And for the money was shocking! Having lived in the borough my whole life and been to many pantos over the years I will certainly not be returning again. Poor customer experience and very poor show! Can’t say there was anything that made me laugh out loud! (Where as the other pantomime I went to had us belly laughing) .
Fairfield halls wasn’t even half full, and sadly if they don’t give good customer service and choose scripts to make the customer laugh I am sorry to say the end of the Fairfield halls will be sooner than we think. Shame really!
We went to see Aladdin pantomime Saturday 16 12 23 2pm first show wow it was off the scale brilliantly choreographed so much work must have gone into this production our son Richard autistic travelled from Northampton especially and he absolutely loved it as did we as his unconditional loving parents this was best show for sometime definitely west end class and obviously not the same budget so so impressed don't miss out you will be sorry from security staff at the door and all who participated in show and supported it thank you for your love and dedication
No refund for postponed event until the new date is announced?! Even if you're definitely not going to the rescheduled event eg because it was for a special occasion.
Went to the theatre on Wednesday, 20th September and had a really bad experience. Theatre is so cold looking and no atmosphere in the whole of the building, so unwelcoming.
Restaurant & bar don't open til 6.30 to order pizza & drinks and chaos amongst staff who didn't know anything about the food they were selling & no cutlery to be seen!
Staff were still bringing pizza orders out at 7.25, 5 minutes before the show starts.
There was also no water in the ladies toilets to wash your hands.