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Theatre tickets for less: Act 2

August 14th, 2009 by Penny Golightly

If you fancy a cheaper night out at the theatre, here are some more ideas to save you a few pounds.

Some shows are cheaper. Experimental theatre, fringe or amateur productions charge a fraction of West End prices – it’s sometimes pot luck whether you’re going to like it or not though. Track down reviews in the newspapers or theatre websites such as What’s On Stage.

Some locations are cheaper. Many West End shows start out in, or move to, non-West-End theatres. For example, this year’s stage version of Prick Up Your Ears is starting out in Richmond before it moves to central London with the same cast. If you don’t mind a longer journey or you live nearby then you could make some savings.

Theatres don’t like having empty seats. A full house has a better atmosphere, which in turn can influence reviews, word-of-mouth recommendations and future sales. The theatre takes more at its bars and merchandise stalls too. This can mean discounts for you in the rush to put bums on seats.

Seat fillers, Part I: Standby, day and returns tickets. Spare tickets are sold off, usually on the day of the show, often at a large discount, and many theatres also have tickets they deliberately keep back to sell on the day, usually first thing in the morning. The discounts can be much larger for students, pensioners etc. You might only be able to buy one or two tickets, and you might have to pay cash and show your ID. Call the theatre in question to check about likely prices, terms and conditions, and the time the tickets go on sale. Get there early and be prepared to queue.

Returns tickets are the ones that are sent back to a theatre’s box office on the day of the show if they’re unsold by agents, or if the customers who originally bought them find that they’re unable to use them. They’re supposed to go on sale about an hour before the show starts, but in practice you can usually buy them a while before that since it avoids a big rush for the box office staff so everyone’s happy. Please note that these tickets aren’t always guaranteed to be heavily discounted, it depends on the show’s popularity.

Seat fillers, Part II: Official discount booths. If you’re in London, you can get about 50% off same-day tickets at the official TKTS discount booths, plus a £3 handling fee. If you’re first in the queue you get the pick of all the shows. There’s one in Leicester Square and another in Brent Cross Shopping Centre. Check their TKTS website to get an idea of what’s available at the moment. Be warned that there are lots of unofficial ticket booths around Leicester Square, so don’t get confused or you might get ripped off.

Seat fillers, Part III: Late-ticket clubs. In larger cities you may find subscription-based clubs that offer you spare tickets for that night’s performances around town, or with two or three days’ notice. You can check their offers every morning and snap up tickets on a first-come-first served basis, paying only a couple of pounds or so for a handling fee. The annual subscription is likely to cost around £40-£50, but key workers sometimes pay less. You have to be prepared to make space in your evening plans then and there, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll be certain of getting exactly the tickets you want, but if you just love going out to the theatre on a regular basis then this system might work for you. You might like to try The Audience Club out.

Seat fillers, Part IV: Papering the house. If a show is selling really badly then tickets may very quietly get distributed for free. If you’re offered one of these tickets, first of all ask yourself why the show’s selling so badly: hunt around for reviews to help you decide whether to take up the offer or not (I truly regretted watching an over-long, badly-acted and darkly-lit production in a cold, draughty theatre one particularly rainy January, even if it cost nowt).

Freebies may be given to schools, colleges or universities if it’s a classic play or standard text. It’s worth checking with employers as well, as large organisations and businesses sometimes get offered free tickets. This is something you find out about by accident or by asking around, so keep an eye on messageboards or emails wherever you work or study.

There are so many other ways to obtain discounts on tickets that I’ll have to come back to it in Act 3. See you after the interval.

If you missed the first part of this article, you can find Act 1 here.

Tags: bargain nights out, cheap theatre, discount theatre tickets, free London, free theatre tickets, standing room at the opera house, welcome to the cheap seats
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Theatre tickets for less: Act 1

July 26th, 2009 by Penny Golightly

A night out at the theatre can be a beautiful thing, but the tickets can be cripplingly expensive, especially if you live in London. Fortunately there are loads of ways to see shows for free or at least at reduced cost – so many, in fact, that I’ll have to start the topic today and come back to it on another occasion.

Without much further ado:

Be an insider (or friends with one). People who work part time or full time in theatres, concert halls and arts centres nearly always get free or discounted tickets as part of their jobs. Actors are regularly invited to attend performances by directors and other friends, but you don’t have to be a well-connected thesp to benefit – ushers are often asked to sit at the back of an audience while plays are on, and so are St John Ambulance volunteers, etc.

Get on the list. Sign up for email updates from your favourite venues and theatre companies. They may have ‘early bird’ deals or special offers in their emails. You can also follow them on Twitter, where I’ve recently seen free tickets given away by The Soho Theatre and £5 tickets offered by The Royal Court.

Some nights are cheaper. There’s less demand for tickets on a Monday night, say, so they’re not always as expensive as tickets for the same seats on a Friday. The same often goes for matinee performances. Tickets for the first shows at the start of a run, including preview nights, may be lower priced too, although sometimes there can be ‘teething troubles’ with sets, scripts and so on.

Some seats are cheaper, Part I. Seats at the back of the balcony are cheaper than seats at the front of a dress circle or the stalls. I think it’s nearly always better to have a cheap seat than it is to miss an exciting show completely, but do be warned that some seats have a partially restricted view of the stage, poor acoustics, a vertiginous drop below them or leg room that dates back to when malnourished Brits rarely grew taller than five foot two. It is well worth double-checking potential purchases against the seating plans at theatremonkey.

Some seats are cheaper, Part II. Many theatres have ‘slip seats’, fold-down seats, benches or a little standing area where you can watch for a small fee. They tend to face sideways onto the stage so the view isn’t always perfect, but you can nearly always see and hear enough to know what’s going on at all times. They might also have an added bonus – sometimes people in the expensive seats nearby don’t turn up, so if seats near an aisle remain empty 20 minutes after the show’s started then you can often discreetly slip into them. For seats in the middle of a row, wait until the interval and be as polite as possible if you’re trying to blag your way into them (you haven’t paid for the new seats and aren’t legally entitled to sit in them).

This list is by no means exhaustive, and I’ll come back to it soon with more cheap theatre ideas. If you have any insider knowledge of your own, please spill the beans in the comments below.

Tags: bargain nights out, cheap theatre, discount theatre tickets, free London, standing room at the opera house, welcome to the cheap seats
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