to think theatre prices are extortionate...

[GingerOClock]

we are a family of five. I have been wanting to take the children to a London production for yonks. We missed out on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and now I would love to take them to see Matilda, but for half decent seats we'd be looking at the same price as our week long camping holiday! Am I missing something? Is there a way to do it cheaper? I feel they are missing out on such a great experience.

I usually go on a Monday night. Last minute websites sometimes have tickets with a meal at the cost of the price of the very cheapest in the gods seats sold as best available.

A lot of the time we have been moved to best seats in the stalls for £30 in total.

Hate paying huge money out for these things

Basically all the seats are decent in modern theatres. As long as it’s not ‘obstructed view’ which are clearly marked.

Timeout often has very cheap last minute tickets. Often went to the ballet for less than the cost of a cinema ticket when I lived in London.

You could also try entring the Matilda lottery.

I don’t live in London, so can’t form a view on prices in the west end, but I don’t object to high prices for classical music concerts and operas performed by fabulous live orchestras and singers.

You only need to look at a production by Opera North to see why tickets need to be expensive. Beautiful costumes, world class singers and an orchestra of professional players who are on full time contracts of employment. They don’t learn repertoire and rehearse for free!

seatplan.com/london/?showType=Musicals

This website is really useful, it has user reviews of different seats.

It’s true one can take advantage of very cheap tickets if you’re prepared to leave it to the last minute. Easy enough for one or two adults, living close by. Much more difficult to arrange for multiple adults and children - especially if the trip might involve an overnight stay or expensive train fares. It is frustrating.

Get the TodayTix app, I’ve just looked and you can get tickets in the upper circle for Matilda on Saturday night for £25 each.

A lot of theatres also do dynamic pricing, which makes it trickier if you can only go at the weekend/holidays.
If you can go Mon-Thursday out of holiday season the tickets are cheaper. Friday onwards it gets more expensive and even more so when it's a school holiday.
I know this makes it very tricky when you want good seats but don't live in London so have to factor in travel costs etc, but it is something to be aware of.

Get the TodayTix app, I’ve just looked and you can get tickets in the upper circle for Matilda on Saturday night for £25 each.

Its cheaper to go direct via the Cambrisge/RSC website. Topdaytix are good for Rush tickets but I've found they are often more expensive for other seats.

YANBU.

West End ticket prices have become more expensive. I regularly saw the likes of Miss Saigon, Les Mis, Phantom etc in the early 90s when a top price ticket was approx £25.

£25 in 1990 (using Bank of England's inflation calculator) is worth £54 today.

Tickets options for Les Miserables for a Saturday matinee next March (according to Ticket Master; I appreciate there are other ticket outlets) are:

£35.25; £52.75; £70.25; £93.75; £101.50; £126; £146.25; £204.75.

So a top price ticket for a West End show is about 4x what it would have cost in the 90s. I'm assuming the cheaper tickets have increased by a similar increment.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/west-end-s-top-seats-cost-three-times-as-much-as-10-years-ago-9549922.html%3famp

If you queue early in the morning of the day you want to go, you can usually get "day tickets" for a fraction of the face value.

Yes I agree - wanted to take ds1 to see Matilda the musical as it is his favourite book, but we absolutely couldn't afford to do it. Shame!

I see someone's already recommended The Mayflower, Southampton, and I second this - they have some excellent touring shows (Wicked, Mama Mia, Shrek, Hairspray) and these are pretty much as good as West End. They also have less well-known productions which are generally excellent. Tickets are still not cheap, but they are cheaper than London prices. Admittedly, it's not the same as a day out in London, though.

Again - Openup41 I’m certain there must be theatres closer to you that you could visit more often. Theatre doesn’t have to mean the West End of London ...

And regional theatres are brilliant at programming not just plays but workshops and other activities for children. Generally free or for very little cost.

It is expensive, specially if you want to go with the whole family.
BUT...I used to work in a West End theatre and knowing how everything works and the amount of people that is needed to make that happen...I actually think it is cheap! Some days when the theatre was not so full, I was wondering how was that worth it for them

Theatre isn't just for the wealthy, please don't tell other people this.
If you look at some of the offers people have posted and google for others it's surprising what you can pick up.

I don't pay much for tickets, but don't tend to go for West End shows, I do the touring shows they are just as good.
We go to see the Opera and classical music. We are offered very good discounts and they email with offers, just because we have been before to other productions.

If the Op want Matilda its going to the Mayflower next June/July and they have discounts for children etc.

It’s not quite right that they need to charge that much to make any money. I used to work in theatre and a good rule of thumb is 3 full houses a week tips you into profit. For some it was only 1 full house a week.

As to why it’s so expensive it’s complex but also not a pretty answer. The reality is any product is charged at the maximum price they can get away with, and theatre is still a wealthy persons pursuit. Why would you sell tickets for £15 each when you know you can fill the house at £50 each?

Also some successful productions will carry the less successful or new productions for the group.

Serbeska most of the west end isn’t modern theatres though, there are poor seats (priced accordingly though)