Tag Archives: West End

16 Ways To Go To The Theatre And Not Pay Full Price

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Theatre can be an expensive hobby. Just the other week the average West End theatre ticket was confirmed to be £47. With the average price paid for a ticket being £37.97

I go on average once a week and I’ve found various ways that I regularly use to make sure I can get good tickets but at cheaper prices. So what is my average ticket price? I dug out my tickets and calculator and over the first 6 months of this year my average was £19.20. admittedly not all of the shows I see are West End but a large proportion are, probably 70% of theatre I see is in West End/National Theatre or Royal Court.

Here’s how I achieve this :

1) If you’re in London go to the TKTS booth in Leicester Square, this is the official half price ticket booth and offers tickets for most of the West End shows. It has a website too that you can reference prior to coming into London. I primarily use this as my source for tickets. They have also recently started a loyalty card where you get £3 off once you’ve bought 6 tickets. You can book tickets not just on the day but up to 7 days in advance. I wrote a post on TKTS recently and it can be read here.

For great value tickets for West End shows, head here.

2) Visit the National Theatre’s Travelex Season. The National Theatre is I think the best theatre in the world. They have several productions a year which are part of the Travelex season. For this you can get tickets for £12 in good seats. This is a bargain and a great way to see world-class theatre for a brilliant price. This year in the Travelex scheme are, Antigone, Timon of Athens, London Road. I honestly think this is the best value theatre ticket available.

3) This is perhaps a cheeky tip but here it is nonetheless – DO NOT BUY from http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk they charge exorbitant “booking fees” PER TICKET. In fact their booking fees can sometimes equal the total ticket price of other shows!

Avoid like the proverbial plague

4) Visit your local amateur theatre. I can hear the gasps now “oh no, not am dram”, but take my word for it, you may be pleasantly surprised. A friend of mine took my tip and saw his local amateur theatre group and now goes regularly to see them, he felt the standard was better than some pros he’s seen. Many people involved in amateur theatres are professionally trained but for numerous reasons (often not because they failed as pros I hasten to add), they perform as amateurs. For example the amateur theatre I’m involved in The Miller Centre Theatre at every level has professionally trained people involved in its productions. The Little Theatre Guild website will point you in the right direction for one near you. Ticket prices are a bargain (£5 – £15 typically), and you’ll see a wide range of theatre too, yes, some will do the classics but some do more modern works, The Archway Theatre in Horely I saw do Patrick Marber’s Closer and will be doing Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis in September. So check out your local group, you may be surprised!

5)  Get on mailing lists. Most theatres have an email list, get on it, because they often email those on it with very good deals. Time Out have an email list and I’ve used offers they’ve had on a few occasions too.

6) Check the Evening Standard newspaper (if you’re in London) as it frequently has offers in it. It’s a free paper and so it’s a no brainer to flick through and see if they have any offers.

7) Get on Twitter. I was a late comer to Twitter, only joining a few months ago, (@theatrethought if you want to add me)  and I have to say I wish I’d joined it earlier as there are deals flying about all over it. Facebook is similar but I’ve found Twitter to have more on it. @tkts, @bargaintheatre, @theatre_direct, @cheaptheatretix are all ones either I’ve got a bargain from or know friends that have.

8) Become a “Friend” or patron of a theatre/theatre company. Often theatres and theatre companies give a discount to those that support them. obviously there is an outlay of cost but it can work out more cost-effective. I was a Friend of the Royal Court, this meant I paid them £25 a year and I then got advance booking on their coming season. This meant I could book tickets to a Monday night showing for all their season and pay only £10 a ticket. (the Monday nights sell out notoriously fast due to all seats being £10) This was a great way of seeing their entire season at a very reasonable cost. I’ve not renewed this as I’ve not go the capacity to see all their productions over the next 6-9 months. I’ll certainly renew it in the future though. Check out what your local (or favourite) theatres offer.

9) Ask for Theatre Tokens for your birthdays and Christmas etc. This is an easy gift for people to get me, I can then pool them together and then for shows I can’t get a discount for I can either use them towards the cost or pay for the entire show. I used my Xmas vouchers to pay for Top Hat’s opening night earlier this year. Good news is that the TKTS booth also accept these so in previous years, I’ve got several shows out of the tokens given to me over one birthday.

These make the best present for me.

10) Go to previews. Preview tickets can sometimes be a good way to see a show but at a reduction. Sometimes it is a risk because a preview can mean the show is still a bit ropey or needs work, but I’ve seen a lot of previews and have to say usually they’re pretty slick. I got preview tickets to see Betty Blue Eyes for only £10 last year.

11) Sit in the balcony. This can be a gamble but it can also really pay off. Firstly quite a few of theatres balconies don’t have a too bad view. I saw Love Never Dies from the back row of the Adelphi’s balcony and thought the view was great. I do take a pair of binoculars when in the balcony, as it’s nice to be able to “zoom” in if I need to, but often I don’t use them. One balcony to avoid is the Palace Theatre in West End it’s AWFUL. Often if you book a midweek performance in a balcony they’ll shut the balcony and you get an upgrade to Circle or Stalls. I had this only the other week, you can’t guarantee it, but it’s nice when it happens. some theatres have standing areas this may well also be worth doing if you’re fit and healthy. Sites like http://www.theatremonkey.com and http://www.seatplan.co.uk can give you some tips and people’s experiences of where they’ve sat. Also check out my Seats Where I’ve Sat page, this is populated after every production I see.

12) Shop around. It’s surprising what deals can be found online. http://www.discounttheatre.com is a site I’ve used regularly. (they also have 48hr sales that can be a real bargain too). Shows in London are another site that offer good deals on some shows.

13) Go to the box office direct. This way you don’t pay a booking fee and I’ve occasionally got deals or upgrades on seats by using the box office in person.

14) See if the theatre offers discounts on multiple buys. When I lived in Bath the Theatre Royal there did a deal where the more tickets you bought the greater discount you got. I remember spending about £400 in one shot (yikes), but that gave me about  25% discount on each ticket. It also set me up with lots of trips over the coming year. If memory serves me right I think it meant I could see almost all of their season.

15) Try out Fringe theatres. You can often see intimate and exciting productions in the fringe venues. I’m off to Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Northgate in a couple of weeks to catch Volpone for example. Ticket price = £12.

16) Get a group together. Most theatres offer significant discounts if groups of 10+ go. If lots of your friends want to see the same show, go as a group.

As I discover/use more I’ll add them to this list, if you have any others please add a comment and I’ll add it to the list.

Happy bargain ticket hunting!

TKTS Ticket Booth Leicester Square

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I’m currently writing a post on ways I manage to keep the cost of going to the theatre down. One of the key ways I do this is by getting my tickets from the TKTS ticket booth in Leicester Square.

I first used TKTS when I lived in the West End and started my Theatre Studies Degree, since then I’ve used it repeatedly and their bargain ticket prices mean I’ve been able to be a regular visitor to the West End ever since.

For great value tickets for West End shows, head here.

I was invited last week by Richard Bennison the Sales Manager of TKTS to go behind the booth and see what happens behind the windows and to chat about TKTS, my blog and the wonderful world of Theatreland.

The TKTS Booth is the only official discount ticket booth in London, it’s been in Leicester Square for over 30 years and is run by the Society of London Theatre. They offer discount tickets on the day and up to 7 days in advance, there’s usually a queue outside but you never have to wait too long. The great thing is the staff that work in the booth have a comprehensive knowledge of the shows and theatres so can offer great advice and assistance. Saturday’s are their busiest day, in fact they sell almost double what they sell on any other day of the week on Saturday’s. No surprise as there are double the amount of shows on due to all the matinees.

I always have a list of shows I wish to see, and so I go with this list and see which show  I can get best value tickets for. Their website www.tkts.co.uk lists which shows they have available, and I also monitor this to see which shows are discounted and if any new ones get added. I’ve never come away from TKTS not having tickets to at least one of the shows I wish to see.

The other great thing they’ve recently introduced is a loyalty card scheme. You collect a stamp for each ticket bought and once you have six you get £3 off. I’ve managed to get my card fully stamped in just two visits! (my most recent purchases from TKTS were tickets for Chicago and South Downs / The Browning Version)

It was wonderful to chat to Richard as he has a genuine passion for the West End Theatre much like me. He was also enthusiastic about how many good shows are on in the West End of all genres and styles. I wrote a post only last week about how I feel we’re in a really positive situation theatrically at the moment and it was encouraging Richard agreed. This summer really is a time to take in a West End show or several. See www.theatre2012.co.uk or the video below for a taste of what’s on offer this summer:

I’ve recommended TKTS to friends and family for years, and I commend them to you. Friendly and knowledgable staff and great ticket prices make this the first place to visit in the West End for me.

Quit Your Complaining Conti!

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Tom Conti - Not a Happy Bunny

 

I read this article in yesterdays London Evening Standard. In it Tom Conti complains that he can’t find a West End Venue for his “critically acclaimed” play Wife After Death and he’s blaming musicals for this.

While I share his concern that there are few plays on in the West End, the reality is there are currently plays on in the West End, and a good variety too. Admittedly newly written plays are few and far between in the West End, but they’re easily accessible at The Royal Court ( a quick tube ride from the West End) and The National (which is a short walk from West End).

He then makes the statement that “The thing is, most musicals these days are not any good at all.” That’s just plain wrong, if they were all rubbish the theatres wouldn’t be full with people constantly. Yes they’re a safer option for theatre owners, but they’re running a business and several of the West End theatre owners use the musicals to support and subsidise them putting on plays and productions that may not have such mass appeal. I see nothing wrong in this business savvy approach.

Also I think Tom Conti misses the point, the majority of West End theatre goers are tourists either from the UK or oversees, as David Mamet points out brilliantly in his book Theatre, tourists are after spectacle and an experience/event. Which musicals fulfil perfectly.

His dismissal that long running musicals decline once the original cast leave is again I think totally wrong and leaves me wondering if he’s just using them as an excuse to vent his own frustration. Most long running musicals are revisited by the choreographer/director/writers regularly to ensure the standards are maintained. Yes some do deteriorate, but so do plays with long runs too, he doesn’t have a go at The Mousetrap or Woman in Black, they could equally be accused of “preventing good new plays finding a home.”

The article made me think about how many are long running (how “long” does he think defines “long” too, I’d like to know)? Phantom, Les Mis, Lion King, Chicago, Blood Brothers, We Will Rock You, Mamma Mia! Wicked, Dirty Dancing and Billy Elliot came to my mind. (Avenue Q has now closed and gone on tour and Grease is to do the same early next year) So that’s 10 theatres out of a total of 37 West End Theatres. Some of the above shows are also in venues with 2000+ seats, does Tom Conti really think his play will fill that size venue night after night? 12 of these venues have plays on currently. The current trend is for musicals, but play attendance is on the increase which is great. However I can’t see what’s wrong with musicals being the most popular form of theatre in the West End at present.

In the current economic climate, I can totally empathise with theatre owners going for more risk averse productions, and if these shows are employing hundreds of staff in the theatre industry and entertaining thousands of people night after night we should celebrate that, not denigrate it.

There are lots of off West End venues I’m sure he could find for his play, and I suggest he looks there rather than complaining and putting other people’s hard work down.

Krapp’s Last Tape, The Duchess Theatre, London’s West End – Review

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Michael Gambon as Krapp

This classic Beckett play opened this week in the West End, following its success and critical acclaim at The Gate Theatre Dublin.

It’s a 50 minute play with one single character, Krapp. Michael Gambon brought this enigmatic character to life before our very eyes. From the humourous to the sad and absurd, he kept us enthralled as we see Krapp listening to the tapes and recording his latest one. It’s an absolutely stunning and gripping performance.

The play itself is strangely beautiful and haunting. To me it felt poetic and Beckett has infused it with exquisite tenderness and power.

“We lay there without moving. But under us all moved, and moved us, gently, up and down, and from side to side.”

Is a phrase repeated a few times in the play, and has been running through my head since seeing the play. Along with a few other phrases.

The playful Beckett humour is present and even though this is a poignant play, Beckett allows us to laugh at the inherent absudity of Krapp’s and our own existence.

The intimate Duchess Theatre is an ideal venue for the play and the lighting and direction were perfect. There are two stars to this play, Beckett as the writer and Gambon for bringing his text to life in such a compelling way.

Monday Mamet Musings

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I thoroughly enjoy David Mamet’s books, and so thought I’d go through chapter by chapter of his latest book “Theatre” on the blog as and when I have time to. Feel free to comment, and add your views. Mamet isn’t a divine authority, but he certainly gets me thinking, and I trust he does the same for you.

His first chapter is The Hunter and the Game, here he makes an important observation that the Broadway ( as an American he obviously focuses on American theatre) audience is now predominantly made up of tourists;

“The tourist has no memory of last year’s play and actors…He comes to see spectacle, which will neither provoke nor disturb, whose worth cannot be questioned.”

The tourist has a different “agenda” when viewing theatre, they want to be able to go home having had an experience and brag about it. The West End thankfully is seeing a rise in attendance of plays (and of newly written ones too), but it is dominated by spectacles, and some even describe and sell themselves as such. Obviously it’s good that the “spectaculars” bring in tourists and therefore help the economy, but isn’t it a shame that so many of the musicals on currently are simply “juke box” shows or revivals.

Mamet then goes on to say that plays have to succeed in New York for them to then be able to even be printed, tour or be picked up and produced by amateur groups and thus provide a continued income for the playwright. He’s quite scathing regarding the critics, which is interesting as The Stage has recently run  a few articles on the future of the critic and has a good podcast on it (available for free via iTunes).

After reading this chapter, I gained a sense of how fortunate I am to be in London and the UK, which even though I moan and grumble (on occasion), we have a huge amount of theatres in London (40 in the West End alone) which put on a the whole kaleidoscope of theatrical productions one could want to see. See some of my previous reviews from the last months for a variety of what’s been or is currently on.

He ends on a positive note, saying that perhaps the internet will be a way of plays/playwrights being seen by a wider audience. I suppose time will tell.