That theatre is entirely unaffordable for the average family?

That makes imersive experiences like Lapland UK seem cheap. £600? LLUK is cheaper

VIP packages and the best seats in the house are always going to be very expensive, it’s how they help subsidise the cheaper seats.

But, here’s the thing, you don’t need to buy the VIP package to enjoy theatre.

It’s like complaining at the cost of a flight to New York, because you’re only looking at 1st Class, or those people that spent £1000’s of pounds of VIP packages for Taylor Swift.

You do not need to buy the best seats in the house with added VIP packages to enjoy a show. And using the cost of these as an example for how expensive theatre is is unfair.

But it’s not £600 ‘minimum’ for a family of four. They have seats from £25 up to £152. So at most it’s £608 for a family of four at minimum it’s £100.

Are theatre tickets over priced? Some are absolutely. I wouldn’t pay £152 for a single ticket and some west end shows are even more for the ‘good’ seats. But there are a couple of things to consider. UK theatres are under funded and still recovering from two years of lockdown. UK theatres all still manage to hold seats at reasonable prices and most too have cheap ticket schemes for students and such. Be pleased you don’t live in New York, Broadway costs are astronomical!

Going to the theatre doesn’t require you to buy the best seats in the house.

I go to the theatre at least once a month, often more. A lot of that in London, where I don’t live and so which requires extra expense and time. I don’t spend very much on my tickets at all. A few ways of shopping cheaply:

• Look at cheaper seats, if you want a centre view but don’t want to spend a fortune, consider going a few rows further back;
• Consider going higher up, I’ve generally found that you get a better overall view from higher up than in the stalls, which can often struggle from being at or lower than the height of the stage and aren’t often particularly struggle with being on the same or a similar height to the row in front;
• Think about choosing restricted views are often not at all bad, and many theatres now have photos of the view you’ll get (note: avoid the play Sterophonic at Duke of York’s, my first failed restricted view in years, I sat looking at a wall and ended up leaving!);
• Book early! Nothing beats it as you get a better choice of seats. I follow most theatres on email/ social media as well as theatre press such as The Stage and What’s on Stage, also, often signing up for early access doesn’t cost;
• Don’t use third party ticket websites, book direct with the theatre;
• Be flexible with dates. Still lots of availability for the play you want in January; and,
• Consider alternatives. The big London shows might have limited availability and elevated prices, but smaller local theatres are often cheaper and less busy. They also struggle more so it’s nice to support them. They are also other slightly different alternatives such as The Little Angel Theatre which has been going for decades and does the most incredible puppet shows. Was set up by Joe Wright’s parents (film director: Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, etc) and you can still sometimes see his mother building puppets in the workshop next door to the theatre.

There's nothing wrong with sitting in the God's.
It's what I can afford and I like it.
I was actually pleasantly surprised at how affordable the tickets are, personally, by comparison to a lot of other things lately.

We’ve got front balcony seats for £20 each for CCGW. There are large screens for those with restricted view so you don’t miss the detail. Likewise Comedy about Spies £25 each. You can check the view on theatremonkey.

You can register for RSC and NT under 25/30 schemes to get discounted tickets for their productions, even those running at other theatres like Our Neighbour Totoro and Matilda. We also got our dc £10 tickets for Macbeth at the Donmar Warehouse last year which were immediately behind our full price seats.

NT live is a great evening out - still the buzz of seeing the production with an audience, and the best seat in the house wherever you sit.

We've had Rsc tickets for £30 this year, and live up north so plenty of great theatre, and music at the Glasshouse and regional theatres at good prices.

I do think the prices some of the big West End shows charge are ridiculous - there's a lot of hype surrounding it.

Back to the Future is a superb show to take kids to, and especially those who don’t like musical or the theatre. The lighting effects are amazing.

Saw ‘Just for One Day’ in London recently. I had stall seats for around £75. Superb musical and worth seeing (I think the guidelines are 12+ due to swearing, mainly Bob Geldof using the F-word).

I’m always shocked how much some of the top tier football clubs charge for their seats.

Kidsweek - in the summer, you can get children’s tickets free for every adult ticket you buy. Think it lasts more than a week.

https://officiallondontheatre.com/kids-week/

I’m one of those people who at this stage in my life and living out of London, I want a good seat and for me that’s in centre stalls. I’d rather not go than sit high up or have a restricted view. There is just no way to get certain seats cheap, for west end and for popular shows. I remember before Covid tickets were £79 - £120. Still, at least prices aren’t as crazy as they are on Broadway e.g $921 to see Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal in Othello. I’d like to see Inter Alia at the National in August and £110 seems reasonable (but I know it’s a government subsidised venue).

Back to the Future matinee today. 3rd row from the front in the stalls are £35. On today tix app.

Watching a live theatre production on screen is a brilliant affordable option. You still get all the build up and get to see behind the scenes.

www.ntlive.com/

It can get expensive but with careful use of sites like theatre monkey you can pick good view seats at lower prices. It has been harder to find really cheap deals since covid but they are out there.

I used to live/work in London and would go to the theatre every other week - ten years ago top price would be 65.00. It's now 140.00 (check out Fiddler On The Roof at The Barbican)! I don't live in London now, it's a 2 hour journey / around 50.00 on the train so I'm not going to settle for a seat in the Gods looking at the back of other people's heads. I'm very choosy now about what I see and where I sit.

In November each year Mastercard does an annual "sale" of theatre seats in December/January and first two weeks of February. It is most shows but seats are limited. If you are a family of four, would you consider buying 2 plus 2 seats? Rather than limit yourself to a bank of 4 seats? Theatre Monkey gives great seat plans.

My DC used to members of Mousetrap which I think is now Go Live which is great for cheap tickets for young people, think it goes up to 30 now.

https://golivetheatre.org.uk/our-work-areas/young-people/#

Also Donmar does a scheme for under 35 and National Theatre do various schemes for younger people.

Maybe I am a tight arse but the theatre has never been cheap family day out, especially if you are on a limited income. We went to Mamma Mia in the West End about 15 years ago for DD's birthday, and even back then it really felt like I bought a kidney. On our income we could never justify paying to see big theatre productions regularly, lucky none of us a big theatre goers.

I'm not in the UK but it's similar where I am. I don't fault them they deserve to be paid for the real costs, but I can't spring for tickets to big city theatre for the whole family.

It makes me a little sad, as a child we always went to a Christmas production, I don't think my kids have ever been.

These days the theatre I get to is school productions and community theatre in small towns. Which actually I have found is really pretty satisfying.

Cinema, theatre, fish & chips are things that used to be cheap and accessible and really aren’t anymore.

BeautifulSpringSunshine Us too.we have a lovely Art Deco theatre here.of which judy Dench is patron. Also show films.10.00 a seat compared to odean at nearly twice that!. The Am Dram productions are very good.

This

It's really annoying that people say 'Just sit a mile up in the air, sit behind a pillar, stand outside and squint through the window' like that in any way makes for an enjoyable experience.

It shouldn't be so expensive to just go and sit in a normal seat and watch a show that you can see with your eyes at a reasonable distance. It's prohibitively expensive for all except the most privileged families, making the arts completely exclusive. I don't agree with it and when I hear about the arts dying I just think well of course it is! Nobody can afford to bloody go!

Cheaper ways to do it - sit in the Gods, only go once a year, go on your own, don’t go to the west end - try the theatre circuit in the smaller cities where the big shows tour and the smaller city theatres where you get the good “an audience with” and less popular comedians/shows/plays touring. Then it’s doable.

DH and I used to go to London every 2 or 3 weeks 14/15 years ago when we were first going out. Couldn’t do it now. But we make sure we take DS to see something once or twice a year (child friendly and usually local) so he gets a taste for it and appreciates it when he’s older.

Totally agree. When I was a student 15 years ago, crappy seats were genuinely a bargain - £10 or £15 for a balcony seat at top West End plays and musicals. Now even the crappy seats are expensive, so I might as well spend £50 more and have a more enjoyable time.

If you're eligible for it, it is definitely worth looking into accessibility schemes. My husband and I use this and it really brings the cost down

Theatre is affordable. We go often. 20-30 tickets
Top shows with only limited but quick swll out seats are not. That's with everything though.
So title should read "most wanted theatre shows are unaffordable".

Christmas Carol Goes Wrong in Glasgow, front row of Grand Circle is under £50. I think theatre tickets are quite expensive but I often go on my own so it's a treat to myself. Everything I go to seems to be sold out - theatre, musicals, ballet, opera - so enough people are affording it