"Elitist" theatre ticket prices

[KenAdams]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65160984.amp

Sir Derek Jacobi has said that theatre prices are becoming elitist. I'm inclined to agree.

Prices are eye-watering now and I'm in the Midlands! Restricted view seats for £60! Some London shows are ridiculously priced.

Are you finding the same where you live?

Theatre has always been this way - as a child when my parents took me, we'd look down on the people in the stalls from the back of the highest balcony and wish to be closer, but my parents couldn't afford it. It didn't stop us from loving it, it didn't affect our enjoyment of the show.

I found your post quite moving (which is unlike me as I'm quite stony-hearted!). How nice that your parents made those opportunities for you and you have happy memories of going to the theatre.

I agree that the tickets are expensive. We paid around £500 to see Matilda as a pre Christmas treat and I found it quite boring and frankly not a great use of the money. Whereas I've seen Les Mis five or six times and the hairs still stand up on the back of my neck.

The kids go free (?) promotions are quite good. I also once got cheaper tickets to go on the front row but didn't realise how much the performers spray when they sing. The lights just illuminated the clouds of spittle raining down on us. Still, you get to see everything from close quarters.

@AFlockOfTigers - thank you I will do.

We have done few things locally with just one or two of the children and more obscure plays/events. We're not unhappy with the globe and prom as options they would be an experience in as of itself for our kids - and we'll keep our eye out for anything else.

The coach theater trips sounds like it could be a good thing to look for in the future for us - we don't drive so it may well work out as a more affordable option.

In the northern city where I live prices are £5 - £80, so much cheaper than in London, but the quality of the productions and acting is generally nowhere near as high.

I assumed the price of some stalls tickets for Streetcar that was mentioned on page 1 of this thread were for 'packaged tickets' but no - having just checked, stalls tickets are £175, £250, £275, £300 with the packaged tickets costing £345! Yes, productions cost a lot of money but what's the justification for charging the prices of north of £200? I think a big part of the issue here is Paul Mescal's pay for this and prices should be capped to £200. I think the Shirley Valentine prices are more reasonable considering it's such a beloved play and Sheridan Smith is starring - stalls tickets cost either £114 or £150.

I have tickets to see Buddy Holly- th musical and got them for £46.- each lower circle front/ centre.

It's expensive for a family of 4 on lower income... for us it's a special treat!
I couldn't justify paying out 100's on a Westend show.
But while people can pay it, or prioritise going to see a show. These kinds of things are going to be unaffordable for many families.

I suppose they could sell the tickets much cheaper, make a loss on every show, go out of business, and eventually sell all the theatre buildings off the make luxury apartments?

That would be less elitist...not.

You might be lucky for some theatres (Lenny Henry debut written play is £25) but not the traditional West End show. I agree with Sir Derek.

I have to agree. I've been trying to book Harry Potter theatre tickets for ages but just can't justify the £300 odd for tickets! I've been entering the Friday lottery every week for 3 years and not won yet. :(

@CeeceeBloomingdale they just announced the touring version whereas we went over a year ago. Tickets were really high for Hamilton compared to other shows at that time. We’re going to see phantom next week and they had tickets for £35 but limited view. We’ve gone for a combination of £55 and £65 tickets for that one.

Tickets for Streetcar at the almeida in its first run were much more reasonable - ATG where it now is use dynamic pricing so tickets go up with demand ( also what’s happening with A Little Life at the Pinter).

I don’t know what the answer is - I’m not sure commercial theatre as can be held to lower pricing. The subsidised sector is usually where you do find more reasonable prices, but then there doesn’t seem huge general support for subsidising the arts ( albeit it’s actually way more complicated as subsidised feeds commercial both in terms of productions and actors etc).

Theatre is expensive to put on and run. It seems increasingly viewed as an add on by government ( and wider society?) rather than something fundamental, in which case the susbsidy is very unlikely to increase.

Fair enough but the cheaper tickets were always available if you booked early enough.

Limited view seats can be really good value and most still have a decent view so I wouldn’t rule those out in future. I wouldn’t pay £55-60pp myself, I’d book cheaper seats and go and see two or three or even four different shows (which is definitely possible where I live as I go on average once a fortnight).

Theatre is expensive to put on and run. It seems increasingly viewed as an add on by government ( and wider society?) rather than something fundamental, in which case the susbsidy is very unlikely to increase

I agree with you. I also think Theatre is competing with other forms of entertainment including cinema, TV shows via streaming, video games, theme parks ... and so on.
As I said upthred, it's very expensive for a family of 4 on a lower income.

However, I did see quite a few London productions including at the Royal Opera House, Royal Albert Hall and South Bank Theatre "back in the day" (late 90's). And would love to take DC to see shows in London. But we are an hour train ride away (££), then there are the tickets (£££) and then we'll need snacks/food & drink (££-£££).
Our local Theatre is better with prices starting at around £25 ... but it's not a world class production - sorry guys, I know you are fabulous!! But we also often discuss if X was better as Buttons or as Simba... and what the hell happened to Y's lovely hair- until DC relise the magic lies in the wig! 😉

Thanks, that could help other people reading the thread. DD used to do that Young ROH scheme thing with her friend when she was training in London, but she's an adult now.

The 'Friday Rush' thing can also be helpful, but not so great when you work shifts and need to arrange things for dates you can get off.

I live in Dublin and we get a lot of touring shows here. Depending on the show the ticket prices range from around €30 to €70.
Plus €6.95 per ticket which goes to ticketmaster.
I usually sit up in the Gods. In fact I've been to 3 shows in the lady year where I was literally on the back row.
I love musicals and if money was no object I'd go and see everything.

There are some really interesting discussions to be had around this.

An artist and general creative type I used to work with used to talk a lot about 'Art' vs 'art' and how we decide what value is placed on each. He would argue that community 'art' often has greater value due to the human connections, as opposed to the intellectual but socially isolated high 'Art'.

Obviously the sheer spectacle of a West End production hits differently to an amateur performance at your local village hall or high school, but maybe there is a case to be made for finding joy in art in all of its forms.

Sharing stories is so central to the human experience. I would love to see more subsidisation of this sector, although I don't know how viable it is in the current climate.

@Mammillaria - I agree it is a really complex and multi layered discussion.

I think the emphasis on community art is where Arts Council was trying to go in the latest funding to a degree - and you can see in some of the projects that are being undertaken by some of the subsidised theatres with community actors being involved etc. Taking part in art/telling our stories is definitely in my mind central to who we are.

Im torn on this though - although I recognise I’m maybe a minority - in that I personally also get so much from seeing new plays, ballet, dance etc. For me being part of an audience at a live performance is something that I cannot experience anywhere else. And if I’m honest I do get more as an audience member at least, from ( at least some!) professional theatre.

I was really lucky though as a child/teenager growing up my mum took me to the theatre a lot, which led to me going as a teenager. Also lucky that it was a period when my local theatre ( northern stage) was going through a really rich time and I was able to access diverse productions. Plus RSC visited was also on good form at that time. As a single parent now i often go on my own, and it genuinely has lifted me when times have been difficult.

And of course we haven’t even touched on diversity of audience which is a huge problem as well for a subsidised sector.

Surely any 'luxury' or 'treat' is elitist, by this argument then?

I can pay several hundred £ to go and see a European Final or top International football match or I can pay less for a less popular Premier match..... less for Championship......etc, down through the pyramid ....... or I can go and watch my local Sunday League Team for free.

I can go and watch live music for free at my local 'Open Mike' night, or pay from a fiver, right up to a few hundred to go and see the best selling stars.

Holidays - I can take my own tent and wild camp somewhere, or I could pay out thousands for some luxury hotel and first class plane travel.

We've always had a range of options, and yes, there have always been some families that won't be able to afford any luxuries. There are lots of families that won't prioritise something that other people value too. It doesn't mean it is elitist though. It is about looking at what you choose to spend your 'treat money' on.

I've seen several great shows over the last 12 months for under £20 a show. I consider that to be great value, but I wouldn't pay to go into a theme park, for example. It is about choice.

Surely any 'luxury' or 'treat' is elitist, by this argument then?

Yes, I suppose it is. I guess the question is should theatre been seen as a luxury/treat or something more important and worthy of subsidisation? Which is an impossible (but interesting) question to try and answer.

I think you sometimes have to know a particular theatre really well to know which of the cheaper seats are a real bargain and which aren't worth it - or use SeatPlan which I always have a look at. I'm also really not very good with heights, so steer clear of the nosebleed seats (especially if you have to get to them via narrow/ steep stairs - shudder).

I was a regular at the ROH for a few years and my favourite bargain seats were in Row B in the stalls circle on the straight bit of the horseshoe - great view of the stage and also a cracking view of the stalls to spot interesting people in the interval. Those seats were almost always sold out by the time they went on general release though.