To think the price of tickets for theatre are insane

[Chopbob]

I was looking to booking Beauty and the beast on stage in Manchester for my dd birthday, but omg-how expensive!!!!!
Whilst they offer a very small number of tickets for £20 each (a tiny number, all restricted views) the tickets start around £40 each and go up to £100. For a children's show. In Manchester.
A family of 4 would be looking at £160-£400 for one, single kids show.
AIBU to think this is completely insane? Or am I completely out of touch?

Can someone tell me about todaytix? I’ve just been on and randomly chose a date in Easter hols for frozen tickets and it said £55 a ticket which was loads less than the official sites?
Is it a scam or a catch etc?

Honestly don't go for the mainstream stuff. There are lots of regional theatres that are highly subsidised, it will be a much smaller theatre but just as creative. You can usually get something for £10 a head for kids theatre, just ask around.

It’s worth the money - big productions are clearly expensive to put on- but it’s still inaccessible to all but the most privileged.

Supporting the arts can encompass a hell of a lot more than going to West End and high profile touring productions.

The booking fee is what the ticket seller keeps whether it’s a box office owned by the theatre or an agent.

The ticket price is what the production company eg Disney keep.

@Comefromaway

ATG have just had a New Year Sale where lots of seats were discounted. It’s over now but get onto mailing lists.

I’m going to see Back to the Future next week and we got heavily discounted tickets in the sale.

Back to the Future was brilliant, you'll enjoy every minute.

YARBU. I love the theatre but when they are asking for £65 for matinée for Waitress someone is having a laugh.

@Spotsandstars

Can someone tell me about todaytix? I’ve just been on and randomly chose a date in Easter hols for frozen tickets and it said £55 a ticket which was loads less than the official sites? Is it a scam or a catch etc?

It depends.

TodayTix are more expensive for normal advance tickets. But they do lottery/rush tickets on the day or special promotions. Both SOLT & TodayTix ran New Year sales for shows between Jan-March with certain seats reduced in price. You can usually tell if they are sale tickets as they are starred on the seating plan.

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

In simple terms the value of your ticket goes to the production company whereas the booking fee goes directly to the theatre, you could think of it as funding the box office, which is more involved than you might think! (There will of course be other payment from the production company to the theatre).

@iklboo that's a shame it folded 😕

I saw an amateur production of Avenue Q which I can honestly say was better than stuff I've seen professionally touring from the west end. I agree there should be more funding for it.

friends with families go to EnglishNational Opera all the time- it's the best value in the west end for huge shows with big orchestras and casts and musicals and opera sung in english. fab shows . free seats for every performance for under 21's - not just the cheap ones, best seats in the house for free ! under 35's also get really cheap tickets and they have relaxed performances.

Know what you mean i know theyve had a tou9gh time due to the pandemic so has everyone though

i only went recently because there was a discount ticket offer for les mis otherwise couldnt afford it

I usually go about 6 times a year. It feels to me that prices are higher than usual since covid. I used to be able to get a mediocre seat for 35-50 and a decent seat for 60-80: now it's £80+ for a reasonable view of the stage for some productions.

Omg best typo yet!
Did you bastard your monkfish too?
Along with a boil-in-the- vag.

I'm torn on this one. DD3 wants to be an actress, so from that point of view I would want her to be paid well for her efforts. On the other hand, I can't afford to visit the theatre, so think prices should be lower - you can't have it both ways, though!

A touring theatre came to the palace ruins in our village. Open air theatre. Sounds good. But it was £17 per ticket, to bring your own blanket and umbrella and sit on the grass. No thanks!

I think ticket prices for almost all live entertainment these days are totally over the top. Popular bands and theatre ticket prices are prohibitively expensive for a lot of people. My DD went to see Coldplay back in 2017,and the tickets were £100 each,even on a special offer. I can remember going to see a couple of very popular bands back in the early 80s,when I was in my mid teens,and I think the most I paid for a ticket was £6! Even allowing for inflation,that would still only be around 20 - 25 quid in today's money.

YANBU.
Prior to covid we had a theatre friends discount card that we paid an annual fee for. It got us 2 for 1 on opening night and with tickets around £30 we generally went to most things and with a pre theatre dinner at the Thai , it was a nice night out for around £60.

Post covid the friends discount is now 20% only and tickets have gone up to £35-40 so a night out with dinner is more than £100.

I totally get that they need to try to recoup costs, but the net result is we hardly go anymore so they're not getting any revenue from us at all.

I absolutely want live theatre to exist, but prices now make it a rare treat.

It’s pretty much on a par with an attraction like Alton towers (c. £50 a head). What I’d expect really.
It’s costs a fortune in rights to put on a musical, but that’s how writers and composers make a living, then you need performers, musicians, costume, set, technicians, the upkeep of the venue, front of house, none of those are paid particularly well.

If you have a large and a large production crew they need paying. As does the venue and all it’s staff. For every night of the show you need to make enough to cover that and a profit. That doesn’t come cheap

Cinema tickets are around a tenner a pop and with popcorn etc that’s at least £50 for a family of four. I’d way rather see a live performance than go to the cinema though.

They've got to make a profit

People who talk about supporting the arts are normally clueless, just ignore them.

I’m afraid you’re out of touch, theatre tickets are very expensive now. It’s not a kids’ show, it’s a full length musical production. It’s a lot of money, I agree with you there.

If it helps, I saw it in Cardiff before Christmas and wasn’t impressed with it. It’s fine, with one incredible musical number, but otherwise not that exciting. Had I paid for the tickets I would have be annoyed.

I used to go to the theatre all the time and had lots of tricks to get decent seats for cheaper prices. The only shows I'd avoid were American shows like Book of Mormon which I thought were massively overhyped and overpriced.

Unfortunately all shows seem to be much more expensive post covid. I assume trying to recoup costs? I feel sorry for them. So badly hit.

Sign of the times. The rich poor divide is getting wider and this is the result. It’s only going to get worse.

Look out for Kids Week in August when you can usually get a seat free for the big shows.

That is the going price for theatres all over the country.

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