Theatres should stop selling shitty view seats

Glad to read of your son's response.

Awwww lovely. And if it was the Victoria Palace theatre (there are lots of Palaces so I wasn’t sure), the Hamilton film with the original Broadway cast is on Disney+ so you could get snacks and have a repeat viewing!

I feel like this and I honestly thought it was just me being precious! But YANBU and I have stopped going to the theatre because of it.

That and the fact there is someone always nearby on their phones, rustling bags of snacks or talking.

Late last year we went to a Harry Pptter Orchestra show and the family behind me were ALL on their phones. Both kids watching YouTube videos. Mum on the phone and Dad on his phone. Not on silent

It's really frustrating, the views are often crap and poor legroom. We used to take the kids to a musical every Christmas but realised that £500 to sit through Matilda and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory really wasn't worth it.

Although I recently booked tickets to see Les Mis for the hundredth time. Booked last minute tickets the night before for £100 each in a box that was very sideways on. It was actually really good, you could move your chair to get extra legroom and I could see 90% of the stage,

I always use Seatplan, I don’t really care about some restricted view if it’s cheaper. Of course you’re going to have someone in front of you though!

You sound like you had cheap balcony tickets and when people lean forward it is very frustrating. People shouldn’t be allowed to be lean forward. Tickets aren’t £300. I go a lot. Have tickets to Devil Wears Prada in Nov in Row L stalls aNd they were £75 each. Am going next week as well and my ticket to Dominic West play were £85.

Thing is you don’t know who you will have in front of you. Last year there was a grossly overweight couple in front of us and the man was tall. So you couldn’t even look around them.

Agree about Little Big Things!

Selling seats with a limited view is OK, providing you know 100% that is what you are getting. Same with limited space or legroom.

A photo of such view would be a good way to do it.

Yet another area where a new consumer act that we should have can cover.

Same applies to the seating arrangements for visiting supporters at Old Trafford, even though they have probably made a shorter journey than the majority of the tourists in the home supporters parts of the ground.

People with Big Hair also need to sit in the back rows.

I was at the Pheonix theatre last week, up in the gods, very tiered so at least my 6ft height wouldn’t have blocked anyone else’s view. But omg, my legs were killing me, even with my bum being right in the back of the seat my knees were practically either side of the person in front’s head. Worse than being squashed into an Easy jet seat.

DD and I are both short theatre lovers. We have been disappointed so many times because despite booking what appear to be great seats, we just haven’t been able to see past the person in front of us. Old theatres weren’t designed for the kind of experience we expect nowadays.

I now only really book front row of the dress circle.

I booked for 5 of us in the upper circle (still cost over £250) and was really looking forward to watching Rocky Horror (1st time being at the theatre apart from pantos) and, who I aptly named, Bunhead sat in front of me. Huge bun on her head making seeing the stage very difficult. Just why?

Sorry op did that seat cost £300 ? If so then that is ridiculous.

You’ve missed out! They have fantastic productions. I’ve seen almost every one.
The Little Big Things was one of the best pieces of theatre I’ve ever seen. And I see a lot of theatre.

Sohoplace has fantastic views from every seat. There is not a bad seat in the whole place no matter what level you’re on. I’ve sat in every area from front row to second balcony. All fantastic - and I’m short.

for Hamilton try to get front two rows in stalls. Totally worth it and costs £79 a seat.

I never sit in those seats in the gods. To me it’s not worth being there. I can’t immerse myself and I can’t see anything. And all you hear is people eating. And you see all the lights from people’s phones. I could go on. I’ll stop. Sorry you wasted your money op. Go for front stalls.

Like everyone else says, view from my seat site.

Restricted view is usually flagged by the theatre and can sometimes be a bargain. We got ace dress circle slips (side seats) for Les Mis once. No good for a 6ft/er tho.

@Icantseebecauseofyou if you were in the balcony then that was the cheapest section, sorry. The seat might have been a lot of money but you can’t expect a great view from the cheapest seat tbf, even if it is ££.

I took DD to see Six at the Vaudeville earlier in the year. We were in the top section, I'd googled the view and it was fine. However, the person in front of me kept leaning forwards stopping me from seeing, it was fine when she was sat back.
I much prefer newer theatres as the view is usually better and there's more space. A friend and I saw The Breeders at The Troxy in East London (an old venue) earlier in the week, the 3 seats in front of us were empty so we had a brilliant view!

The Other Palace main theatre is like a little amphithratre, with the stage at the bottom and very steep rake.
I went to see Babies there a couple of weeks back, great new musical, lots of fun but i also cried.

Theatres should identify before buying if the seat has a restricted view such as a pillar or piece of equipment. However I find a lot of the trouble is with the older London theatres - the seating just doesn't have a sufficient rake. The more recently built theatres often have much better views. You can see from any seat on our local theatre, even with a taller person in front of you.

Palace theatre Manchester has a seat view option when you book.
I agree it’s SO expensive. I want to take my kids to see the lion king and wicked but I just can’t afford £80+ per person. Managed to get excellent seats for Aladdin for £40 each in the stalls but even up in the gods the seats are over £80 for the lion king at the same theatre same day of the week same time slot. There is such a wide difference in price for the shows and many will be unaffordable for the majority