Shereden's story
The Box Office Days
Shereden's career in theatre has always been focused on selling tickets. In the 1980s she joined the Box Office team in Cambridge Arts Theatre, where she worked on a manual system with paper plans, ticket stubs, and coloured pencils. Ahead of the curve, the Arts then installed one the UK’s first computerised Box Office systems were installed, opening up a world data based marketing. Shereden moved to Bath Theatre Royal’s Box Office where she further developed her understanding of reports and data capture, hands on.
Publicity becomes Marketing
Shereden then moved to Cardiff New Theatre into the newly created Marketing Department where she was quickly promoted to run show and press campaigns. Along with her in-house experience, she received training across multiple courses including the TMA courses, Druidstone and Walking the Tightrope. As well working on a wide range of product, including musical and opera, Shereden experienced a collaborative citywide marketing approach, created by the innovative Cardiff Arts Marketing. Methodologies and results were explored and shared, and science met art.
Touring
Her next step was into touring, but keeping her roots in regional theatre, she joined Oxford Stage Company (now Method and Madness) as Marketing Manager. As an Arts Council NPO, the productions toured far and wide across the company with “special relationship” venues included Oxford Playhouse and Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds.
Shaftesbury Avenue
Shereden’s career eventually brought her to London’s West End, where she became Marketing Manager of Turnstyle (now Ambassador Theatre Group) based on Shaftesbury Avenue. Still mainly focused on touring theatre, this was a different level of touring with productions including The Rocky Horror Show 25th Anniversary Tour, Smokey Joe’s Café and Soul Train, all of which also enjoyed West End runs under Shereden’s management. She also handled major projects like the co-production of The Weir with the Royal Court, Slava Snow Show and the launch of the New Ambassador Theatre.
Freelance Life
Shereden then ventured out on her own, securing Manchester Royal Exchange as her first client. Thereafter word spread and she managed several tours large scale tours alongside running Marketing Manager cover in venues, including Wycombe Swan, Brighton Theatre Royal, Churchill Theatre Bromley, Richmond Theatre, and Milton Keynes Theatre.
Launching Dressing Room 5
Shereden officially founded Dressing Room 5 in 2000, setting up office backstage in a theatre in Greenwich, London - is Dressing Room 5! Her first clients included the BBC Worldwide arena tours, the Dance Consortium and ATG tours. After moving the office to Soho in 2006, Shereden was joined by Mark Dooley, and the company expanded into new directions and opportunities in theatre marketing.
Questions and Answers
Q : What's been your favourite show to work on?
A: I do love working on selling out shows, so one level that would be shows like Wicked, Motown, The Mousetrap and Bluey's Big Play but I also love shows llike Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland), Earnest? and The Trocks.
Q: What do you like best about your job?
A: The variety and relationships with the theatres. One moment I'm working on ticket analysis, marketing reseach and dynamic pricing and then I'm back doing overprinting and running meta ads?
Q. What changes have seen since Marketing was introduced into UK Theatre?
Regionally, there's always been a focus on relationship marketing, which I still think we're world leaders on. The metholodagies may have changed, with a mix of analogue and digital, but the premise of respecting audiences and the understanding the motivation on theatre-going remains. Marketing teams seem to have developed a much wider skill set to keep up with technology - but depth of understandng through sharing is still the gold standard.