Theatre standby tickets - are they still a thing?

[Theatrefish]

I'm off to London on Wednesday for a meeting in the evening. As I have the day free, I was going to head down early and catch a matinee.

I know about the various apps etc. where you can get fairly last-minute tickets to theatres - but when I lived in London, I used to turn up to the box office an hour or so before the show started and ask if they had any standby tickets, which I used to be able to pick up for about a tenner (often premium seats too!).

However, this was about 20 years ago! Is this still a thing, or is it all digital these days?

leicester square ticket booth is open daily for tickets

Turn up about 10am for day tickets or check the tkts site the day before.

This does still exist but you don’t tend to get bargain basement tickets any more.

Each performance usually has “house seats” that are reserved until the day of the performance. These are probably the premium seats you remember. They are reserved in case anyone connected to the show needs seats last minute e.g. an understudy is going to be on for the first time and their family (understandably) wants to watch. These seats are usually sold at full price to these people though, very few are freebies or big discounts.

These days, these seats can be sold digitally over a wide range of websites in real time. So bargain “rush” tickets for the same day you see advertised online. With this live availability it means you can sell through a number of channels and for the most popular shows they will go.

So in summary, there will always be a few seats available on the day but you almost certainly won’t get them super cheap and if you leave it until just before curtain up then you may well find internet users have pipped you too it.

Shows that aren’t doing well are an entirely different matter though.

Thanks - I won't be there early enough for 10 a.m. tickets - the earliest I can get into town with an off-peak train is about 11.30 ish. Do you think it would still be worth trying for day tickets?

I'm not looking for super-popular shows like Harry Potter or Hamilton. Maybe Dear Evan Hansen or Pretty Woman, which seem to have good availability at the moment.

(Open to suggestions too - what have you seen that has a Wednesday matinee not to be missed?)

My friend frequently gets day tickets. She got two a couple of weeks ago. Front row of the stalls, they should have been £79 each, she got them for £25 each.

Worth a try. Check online for timings at theatres you are interested in , some may open later (think Wicked may be 11). As it is not half term or school holidays you may still get lucky.

Last week I got tickets for dear Evan Hansen for myself and my husband on the day at about 11am. They were full price the day before for the same seats as we were considering it, and the theatre ticket booths in Leicester Square had cheap tickets but definitely not as cheap as direct from the theatre.
We got seats in the middle of the stalls (aisle seats as a preference) perfect visability for £30 per ticket. There were even cheaper tickets right at the back of the balcony level too if you wanted even cheaper. If youre in the area anyway it's worth popping in just incase!

I got them back in 2019 for a play - just went to the box office an hour before curtain up, I basically paid for upper balcony and was given stalls tickets. Otherwise the Leicester Square box office is still available and check the websites for shows you are interested in, AVG definitely does have cheap singles sometimes

Thanks for the info! Was it good?