Where to sit in the theatre?

[LuciferRising]

I want to take my daughter to see a show in London - but looking at the seats I have no idea which seats to choose. Stalls, dress or upper circle? It is Matilda.

Any help would be appreciated.

Sometimes in the stalls if you are too close to the stage you can’t see all of what’s happening (eg if an actor is lying on the floor or crouching). You also risk a poor view if the seats aren’t particularly raked & a tall person sits in front of you!

Upper circle is too far away for me, so I’d say dress circle is best of both, but not at the very front as often there’s an annoying rail in your eye line.

Have a look at the Theatremonkey website, it has information on specific seats and rows for each theatre.

Do you know the website https://aviewfrommyseat.co.uk/ ? (And if you use it, remember to contribute. I find it a great resource!)

For Matilda specifically I would choose stalls personally as there are a few bits where the action comes out into the stalls. However you don’t want to be too far forward as the stage is quite high and you’d not get the overall spectacle. So maybe about 6/7 rows back in the stalls?

I always choose towards the front of the dress circle but same as pp not right at the front. There is a website where you can see the view from different seats for every theatre so that might be helpful to you to check before you commit.

Avoid the front few rows of the stalls or you'll get covered in Miss Trunchbull's spittle. ( I speak from experience)

Always, for me, the first of the circles - in the middle and as close to the front as possible/affordable.

In the stalls you're often too low down, and if there are tall people in front of you, you don't get a good view, whereas circle seating is tiered.

For Matilda I'd choose the stalls not to far forward, about half way between the front and the middle. I've been to see it twice in London so I can assure you that if you get the slightly cheaper tickets to the side rather than dead centre, it won't affect your enjoy the show.
It's not a huge theatre so to be fair, if you're anywhere in the stalls or dress circle you'll be fine.
It is excellent and your daughter will love it!

Also, for any London show, if you go on the seat plan website , you can see what the view will be like from your chosen seat. I always look on there when I'm choosing seat tickets

Seatplan.com

Stalls with an aisle seat for Matilda

I always buy the cheapest end of a row, middle block. The view is always fine and it means I can afford to go to more shows.

Now I'm worried about train strikes.

Stalls middle centre.
Don't worry about train strikes, just make sure you add insurance to your theatre tickets. A tip on the train, after our Midlands to London shitshow of cancellations at the weekend, make sure you book two trains before the one you actually need to make curtain up. The logic is that if your train route is every hour and your train, say the 9am is cancelled, everyone will be piling on to the 10am which, because of the volume of people now needing to get on and off will be late.

Well we went to see it - sat in the stalls on the aisle - and adored it. The best show I have seen, although it has been decades. I felt like crying seeing the children up there! Would love to see it again.

It's brilliant, isn't it?!

Glad you loved it, it is brilliant!

Want to take DD to see Phantom next, just need to figure out train tickets. Insane prices from the Midlands.

I usually drive and park at Stanmore the get the tube into the city. You can do the same parking at Ruislip depending where In Midlands you're driving from.