That theatre is entirely unaffordable for the average family?

[Florally]

I love theatre. I used to book for my family of 4 regularly and really enjoy it.

My kids recently saw a poster for ‘Christmas Carol Goes Wrong’ and loved the previous shows my the company so I thought I’d book it as a surprise.

It’s insane. If you don’t want to sit in the gods it’s basically £600 for a family of four minimum.

Who can afford that for one night out??

Am I missing something here?

I live in London, and even so there are cheaper theatres. I never pay more than £40 per ticket, and wouldn't pay that much I if was paying for the whole family to go.
It helps if you know the theatre, or use Theatre Monkey to check the seats.

Are you just talking about big west end shows though? There is plenty of normal theatre out there for reasonable prices.

@Persephoknee it is sad, I used to think it was the best city in the world.

Our local bookshop has copies of Les Miserables, Harry Potter and all the Shakespeares, but it's hardly the same thing, is it?!

Actually, it's for children 17 and under.

We’re near London.

I can’t look at another time of year unfortunately as it’s just a Christmas show. I can’t sit in the balcony as I have a really strong fear of heights, but can sit in restricted view, the back of stalls etc. There isn’t anything available for a reasonable price.

It wasn’t that long ago we went to the theatre probably monthly.. I just can’t justify these costs.

One night out for the price of a family city break. Crazy.

But thanks for the advice I will explore :)

OP, I couldn't agree more with you and I am in Outer London!

I first got into theatre in my 20s (more than 20 years ago now) when I used to get Showpairs vouchers with 2 4 1 tickets. Managed to see a lot of the top West End shows like that.

Then about 3 years ago I started booking Kids Week tickets for me and the family. But every year it gets worse and worse and I've not booked any for this year (yet) as the prices and availability are so bad.

I try to enter lotteries or get last minute tickets where possible, but refuse to pay more than £30 each to sit in the Gods!

YANBU. I love the ‘Goes Wrong’ shows. Recently went to see The Comedy about Spies with DD2 and we were looking forward to seeing Christmas Carol Goes Wrong but bracing ourselves for the cost of the tickets!if you want good seats, London theatre is eye wateringly expensive.

I live in the North. I buy theatre tx up to a year in advance for top productions. The cheapest seats are £16 and the view is fine.

We go regulary and my DD is 28 and goes every week! DD and I went to the National Theatre last week , front row was £25, supposed to be restricted view, but they were brilliant seats.
DD also gets really cheap tickets on Bluelight and regular under 30 tickets for the Donmar and NT. Sometimes we get Rush tickets on Today TIx

Sadly it has stopped now but Theatre Roulette was a source of cheap tickets if you are not to fussy what you see.

Central Tickets often have offers on

Oh definitely! It was! Carnaby street, kings road, portobello road, Camden, great pubs, loads of live music, creative dressing, great art colleges and universities. Young people now say there’s nowhere where people actually dance. Can you imagine! Just very expensive places where they stand about and buy expensive drinks. All gone flat.

Central tickets is another site but usually for short notice availability and the Tkts booth in Leicester Square (also online).

Theatre local to us is not that expensive. We do about 6 shows a year and are on a fairly average income. Usually £20-30 a ticket for good seats.

West End/musicals are thankfully not my cup of tea but London prices are shocking. Vienna state opera is typically a lot cheaper than Covent Garden - probably with flights! Theatres are much more competitively priced further north. £600 is mad - but just look at the context. Arts funding is being cut so far to the bone there will soon be nothing left to cut. Opera North in Leeds - a world class company - have had to resort to using orchestral recordings rather than a live orchestra, which is a travesty. The Arts and Humanities Research Council predictably has the smallest pot of UKRI funding available.

The message doesn’t seem to be hitting home that preserving cultural heritage takes investment. A culturally impoverished nation is an impoverished nation.

The National do some brilliant stuff. Glad to see the rot apparently hasn’t spread everywhere. Hope it never does.

Completely agree. We don’t live in London but have been talking about taking our children to see a show. It’s £600 for Matilda, Frozen, The Lion King or something similar.

That’s not including trains for the four of us or a hotel or dinner. We could easily do a matinee and come back the same day. It’s not even that we can’t afford it. I could afford £600 but it’s just the madness of it. £600! Friends of our took their 5 year old daughter to see Frozen, caught the train from Gloucester, had dinner, stayed in a bang average hotel = £1200

We see the Christmas Panto in our home city and it’s £100, I can cope with that, but how some families afford it I do not know.

We go to London theatre and yes, it’s expensive but not THAT expensive and I don’t want to pay for crap seats because even those can cost £100 for all for us.

It’s usually £200-300 for 4 of us. Most we spent was £400 to see Hamilton in the circle and the view was great.
HP & The Cursed Child is £600 for four but, tbf, it is effectively two plays - we haven’t seen it yet as I can’t quite justify the cost.

I’ve just bought 3 tickets for this show and paid £160 for seats with a side view. That’s in the Grand Circle so not as high as the balcony seats. The stalls were ridiculous prices!

I think you can definitely get cheaper tickets. I go with my kids at least a couple of times a year. I feel like the prices you're quoting must be weekend or matinee tickets. If you go on a weekday evening, you can generally get stalls for around £70 for something like Matilda - not cheap but half what is quoted in the OP for 4 people. There are also lotteries for a lot of the more popular West End plays, last minute tickets or things like Kids Week. You just need to be a bit flexible.

Try the seat filler apps - Central Tickets (free to join) and Audience Club (£5 or year). You can get some real bargains.

The West End is very expensive so give fringe, local and amateur theatre a chance.

I also use the TodayTix app, which can have cheaper seats.

I’ve just booked West End shows at £35 a ticket for the stalls in kidsweek. Brilliant value. Otherwise we save up for what we want to see.
i think the theatre is worth every penny so scrimp in other areas

As everyone says, ticket prices vary hugely. I rarely pay more than £100 in London, and that's for a good seat. It's the hotel and train that bumps up the cost 😂
Plus it all depends on what you value. Some people happily pay a lot for football tickets - I wouldn't. Or takeaways - I'm 60 years old, and I've never ordered a takeaway. Or trips to Disney - you couldn't pay me to go there.
But I spend many hundreds every year on theatre tickets, coz it's my thing.
Point being, we all prioritise the things we value, and that's different for everyone. So it's perfectly reasonable for some families to spend a chunk of their disposable income on a show.

Which show is that for?

We are seeing it in Bath front row of the lowest balcony and I think the tickets were £53 each , it is just the London shows that are expensive . We actually live in the SE but rarely go into London for the theatre as I’d rather go elsewhere and have a night away , which probably works out cheaper as well .