Staggering cost of panto tickets!

[MeMeMeMeOw]

Tried to book panto tickets yesterday for December, Boxing Day, hardly any left and £180 for me, a friend and two kids. Probably put the price up because it is Kevin Clifton!

Go to a local Amdram one. They're experienced, tickets are cheap, and it's a lot of fun. Probably better actors than Kevin Clifton is. I always enjoy the local jokes and seeing my dch's teacher dressed up!

£45 each? That's what we're paying too for similar household name production on boxing day.
I thought that was OK...but when I go to see a show I'm looking at 80-100+ most of the time

They are expensive, but it’s also expensive to put on a show these days and theatre tickets do reflect that. The pantomime will also be the bestselling show of any theatre’s calendar - a lot of regional theatres would close down without them as panto ticket sales are often what keeps a theatre afloat for the rest of the year.

I appreciate it’s not affordable for everyone but it’s not an unreasonable price for theatre tickets. As a lot of PPs have said - most towns will have a decent local am dram society which will put on a really decent traditional panto every year, so that is a great alternative option.

I’d also say that ‘names’ are definitely not what makes a good panto (and I speak as someone who used to work in theatre publicity, so I’ve seen a zillion of them). Some bigger-name performers are brilliant (and I suspect Kevin Clifton will be great) but often when they cast TV presenters, young soap stars, people from reality TV etc, they’re terrible. Seasoned jobbing actors and comedians, whether they’re famous or not, are usually best.

Our local one is very good value,£21.50 per adult .£16.50 per child .Lovely Art DECO in pretty little town nearby .Plays are good value too

There are good tickets available in the dress circle for the OP's panto for either £33 or £26 each.

Alwasy broke the bank to take the dc at Christmas with their cousins but so, so worth it for the memories!

We went to one last year that was about £100 for the three of us. I thought that was a lot and that was with an early booking discount!

This was a very well known (but not touristy) Panto venue though.

Often we got to a more local one which is cheaper but not nearly as good.

I love panto so we go to a local one rather than city centre type with minor celebrity in the cast. I think that the slightly amateur vibe, props not working, hard innuendo, really lends itself to panto and the Dame always has me in stitches. About 15 quid per ticket.

For 4 people I don’t think that’s too bad. Last time we went it was around that price for two of us.

Makes it worth booking a Butlins break to get one included in the price!

I agree. Panto doesn't need star names especially when DC are small. Go to the local am dram or Scout and Guide panto. About £15 pp, maybe less for child tickets.

It's usually cheaper if you go in January.

Our nearest Theatre with celebrity panto costs a fortune, but when it doesnt sell as well as expected after xmas they offer tickets for £10 each. Whilst its nice to do in the build up to christmas its even nicer to know we arent been ripped off

The Sheffield & York pantos both feature CBeebies actors/presentors in the main roles. I’d not heard of them but the reactions from the very young children in the audience showed me the little ones most definitely had.

Dr Rang (CBeebies) absolutely saved the panto we saw! He can, at least, actually sing and dance (probably better not mention the acting...)

Meh. You couldn’t pay me to go to a pantomime so you’ve have a lucky escape IMHO.

Whaaaaaaaat? The Kings or the Pavilion?

£45 a ticket sounds about right, especially for a Boxing Day performance

We always book panto a year in advance as soon as they release the tickets as that is when they are the cheapest, then in January they up the prices

That's what we did. It seems to make sense to do it this way.