That theatre is entirely unaffordable for the average family?

Not just London. Matilda is touring next year. It's coming to our local theatre. Tickets are £65-88. The £65 ones are near the back/sides of the stalls and circle. They say "from £25", but the cheap tickets are the very back row in the corner and to be able to snag them you have to be online the moment booking opens.

We've seen it before and loved it but just cannot justify it at almost £200 for 3 of us.

National Theatre also do Friday Rush where they sell tickets for £10
https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/fridayrush/

For families NT are bringing back Ballet Shoes which is a really lovely show , definitely worth the seeing, and no bad seats really in the NT.

If it’s not been said already, a National theatre at home subscription is an amazing option to see lots of shows you’d never get to see otherwise. At £99 a year if you watch two shows you’ve covered your cost. With the benefit of giving up on plays you don’t enjoy.

Another one saying give local AmDram a chance. Ive seen Shrek in London, and by the local group. The AmDram was better.

I've started doing this, supporting local theatre groups. Less travel, less money and being more aware of what's going on in the community makes me feel like I'm contributing in what little way I can. 😊

A lot of things are too expensive now, sadly. I'll probably go to the theatre once a year from now on, if that. Same with other days out because I just can't afford it. I also go on holiday once a year, no weekends away or anything. It's just the way it is. I'll be sad if these places close (Oakwood for instance) but I don't know what the answer is.

But you're not going to the theatre. You're not there "in the room where it happens." It's very much a lesser experience.

I know this isn’t at all helpful to the OP (sorry) but in Manchester I can almost always get the £15 tickets on the day they go on sale, booking Palace or Opera House through ATG tickets.

I was really impressed that I could change the date for a small admin fee the other day, when my plans had changed.

I agree it is v expensive nowadays and I wish it wasn't, although I know it's complicated.

That said, the "good" seats are always going to be a more expensive and that is a choice. You can't expect the best seats in the house for average prices. You've (quite rightly) decided it's not worth it to you, but others will feel differently or have different budgets. It sucks, but I'm not sure there is a way around it.

Of the shows I've seen in the last few years, only one was in "great" seats in the stalls. For the others I booked "average" or "cheap" seats, and looked on theatre monkey/view from my seat type websites to work out what I was happy paying for depending on the show/who was coming/the layout of the theatre etc.

Yes! I’ve been to a couple of local am dram productions in village halls that were amazing too. Def worth going if they’re doing something you’d like to see.

We’re not in London, but even with the cheapest seats for a family of 4 you wouldn’t get much change from £200. To be honest I’d rather have a night away than sit in an uncomfortable seat for a couple of hours.last panto I saw, was bloody awful, spectacularly awful buttons who was a creepy, angry pervert. The only good cast were the ugly sisters and they had very few lines. It was stupidly loud and uncomfortable viewing in more ways than one.
but coming from a theatre family, the cost of these productions are absolutely eye watering, and if the cast have famous thespians their fees are high (it’s a well paid profession, but it needs to be, because they’ll be months of no work at all) then the lighting and sound engineers, producers, backstage crew, musicians prop designers, hire of the stage etc etc etc cost ££££ so it’s not surprising it can be expensive.
Our local am-dram group is good though, so we support that, might be in the village hall, but we’ve seen some really good plays and musicals.

Definitely a hobby for the rich now.

They are much cheaper if you wait till they tour and go and see them up north. For very good seats you would be looking at more like £200-300 for a family of 5.

We recently went to a local private school production of Les Mis (which I've seen x 2 in London), tickets were £8 each and it was utterly amazing. Really really atmospheric. I know you lot will scoff but I enjoyed it more than the London performances.
They even had a full orchestra and a beautiful bar with pre orders and no queues.
Could local productions be an alternative?

we just search for deals and go to what has affordable tickets - we live in london so can go any dates which is handy

there was london theatre kids week on the 10th june and it was free kids tickets with a full paying adult ticket - so we always wait for that and book 2 shows for school holidays

there might be still some tickets left (not sure that show you want is in it though)

But yeah in general the prices are crazy - like my daughter wanted to go to theres a bear in my chair -(shes only 4) it was around 45£ a ticket for a 1 hour kids show!! we didn't go in the end

Someone else mentioned it, but some cinemas do live showings of the National Theatre, Royal Opera and Ballet and the Met Opera in New York. The tickets are around £20. I saw a fantastic "The Barber of Seville" live from New York for £21 recently.

Christmas is the most expensive time to go and anything with a big star in it will be expensive, but even something like the London Palladium pantomime is cheaper in January.

Wow! Our local city (small cathedral city) playhouse is £40 per adult (evening) £34 per adult (afternoon) for front row stalls. Saw the Da Vinci code this year it was superb.

I agree with theatremonkey being a great tip for lower prices.
another reason I don’t like paying for top price seats is the rake is often least in the centre stalls in the older theatres, and I’m short. I also don’t like investing so much in one play. If I don’t particularly enjoy it, or have a tall person right in my sight line, I feel I’ve invested too much in a great view of one show only so I’d rather spread the cost a bit!
never found TodayTix particularly cheap — can usually get the same seats directly for less. But then I am generally thinking I want to see something specific rather than shopping for a deal.

We've taken our DC to the West End but it's so expensive now. Yes it is possible to find cheap seats sometimes, but when you have some limitations on date that makes it more tricky and honestly, while I don't need the best seats I don't want to have a poor view either.

We've started to go to our local theatre much more. Tickets are affordable, seats and views are always good, and travel costs are negligible. I feel it's much better value for money.

We saw this recently and the DC absolutely loved it
www.shoddydetective.com/

No point buying cheap seats. We went to see Hamilton and sat in the gods, it still cost an arm and a leg and you couldn’t really see anything (not to mention uncomfortable). My dd has subsequently seen it closer up and said it transformed her experience of it. If it’s a special day out and a treat you want reasonable seats.

We’ve had some good TikTok deals with our kids but that’s it. Wanted to take my dd to see the No.9 stage tour but just could not afford it at £75 a ticket. We just won’t go to the theatre any more.

You’re not wrong OP. Our local theatre (in the north of England) was advertising an amateur production of Les Mis and they were charging £60+ per ticket. I’m not paying £250 for my family to watch a glorified school play!

Hi OP. I agree the theatre is expensive. However, I remain a big fan. Many good theatres will give good options if tickets are booked really early and if you join a membership scheme. My children are now older and we go a number of times a year to the National Theatre or Barbican. There are some great shows on offer, but you need to buy tickets pretty much as soon as they come out to get the cheapest.

It's a treat. The last time we went as a family was a decade ago to see Matilda. Even then, it was approx £70 each (for good seats) in Birmingham! I decided it was cheaper to visit family one weekend than to visit London to see it.

Nowadays, DH & I go by ourselves. We went to see Six back in January (relatively cheap/good value) and did it as a day out. (Drove to end of a tube line to save money cos off peak return train tickets were significantly more than a day's car parking ticket plus tube).

Absolutely. (As with many sectors) there has been a dreadful concatenation of circumstances that have massively impacted theatres and the arts, with covid shutting theatres and the Ukraine war pushing up utility costs and the general above inflation rise in living costs. And at the same time Government support for the arts has dropped of a cliff. There are three solutions;

• theatres must support themselves wholly, in which case ticket costs rise significantly and theatre no longer becomes something for ordinary people and certainly not for students and the poorer in society;
• the arts are seen again as a vital thing for us all, and something to be proud of - just look at our theatre heritage! - and is supported properly again by government subsidies (which is why anyone who cares at all needs to be making an out cry and signing every petition going, etc); or,
• Theatres close. Unfortunately, theatre costs an awful lot to make and run. ‘Just charge less’ is not a sustainable and viable solution.

I lived in London for many years and was a regular theatre goer. I also understand inflation. But the price increases over the past five years have, largely, been massive. Prices aren’t going down. It just makes me sad that theatre going is increasingly going to be a hobby for the rich, exclusively.