Getting the best seats over the telephone:
A reader offers the following advice if you are buying your ticket
over the telephone direct from the box office, by quoting an advertised special
offer reference to them:"Always state your preferred seat locations first without mentioning the offer and then see what seat is offered.
Only when the price is stated should you then say that "I have a special
offer!".
This invariably means getting a prime seat at a cheap price. I've often found that if you state the offer FIRST then you get offered
"second best" seats. Well, I suppose they want to sell the prime seats at full price wherever
possible!"
Once, when offers were a new concept, this
was a really strong tip. Now, phoneroom staff really hate it as it
causes them problems. Producers have become wise to it as discounts
became common, and now often impose specific allocations or say
certain seats cannot be discounted. Being honest and friendly goes
far further than this "trick" now, the monkey finds.
Compare online availability
A reader suggests that if you get offered good seats online but are still
not sure and want to check another day it is best to minimize the window and
hold those offered ( you can often keep for up to 5 minutes) rather than "
go back" in your browser. Then open a new booking window to check other
availability. If you close the window the seats seem to get blocked for 5minutes
and then when released there is no guarantee that you will get the same ones
back.
Registered Disabled Discount
Reader Jay reminded the monkey that almost all theatres offer a generally
substantial discount to registered disabled theatregoers, as well as a person
accompanying them. The theatres try to allocate the most appropriate seating
too, and often deliberately hold certain seats back for sale to those for whom
they would be appropriate.
Free Tickets and Friendship
Charity "Shape Arts" is dedicated to helping elderly and disabled
theatregoers attend events. They offer a service to help those either physically
unable to attend alone, or who simply would like someone along with them for
company.
These "companions" are all volunteers and the charity always needs
more of them. As a volunteer, all expenses are paid - ticket, petrol, parking
and congestion charges are all met AND you get to meet interesting new people
too. Extra drivers are always most wanted.
A newsletter is also produced 4 times a year which goes out to some 1500
members, individuals and groups. To be eligible members are deaf, disabled or
over the age of 70. The newsletter has listings of theatre, musicals, opera,
dance, concerts and other events.
If you are interested in volunteering, call 020 7619 6166 ( choose option 4
on the automatic menu) or visit
Shape Arts
for more information.
Standby
Over 60, unemployed, full-time student or theatre union member. Most theatres
have a standby rate selling unsold seats for about 70% discount an hour before
the show to personal callers at the box-office with valid ID like student cards
or pension book / entitlement card. Generally cash only is the rule. Ask for
your preferred seat. It is your cash! It is worthwhile as an overseas visitor
bringing your ID with you as theatres will often allow, say, an American Senior
Citizen on vacation the same discount as a London resident.
A bigger range of shows offers this discount than one imagines. Even top
shows often fill their front row with standby users. Best of all, many theatres will take a
pre-booking a day in advance and allow credit card payment. For midweek
matinees, Senior Citizens can often book ahead even further - check with the box
office as this varies according to sales and season.It is also worth visiting the box office early in the day as standby
tickets can go on sale early. This allows the day free without the rush of the
One - Hour deadline. If the theatre is sticking to the 'one - hour' rule, still try at two hours before. You will
rarely be turned away. If there is no budging, the line will start two hours
before anyway, so at least you are first.
One reader even commented,
"Got a great deal (£20 each because I'm a student, and £20 for my mum because
she was with me - worth trying to get them to do this)."
Not something that will work regularly, the
monkey suspects, but as the reader says, why not give it a try - after all the
theatre has to sell the seat or be left with it...
The Royal National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and a few others let EVERYBODY
take advantage of standby discounts without having to ask. Trouble is, the best stuff
is sold out anyway and at a discount, to mailing list members.
Day Seats
Increasingly, the trend for holding back seats (as the subsidised companies
mentioned above, do) is being followed by the most popular musicals and plays at
other venues. Front row stalls particularly are being held for sale on the day -
often more cheaply (though they may have a slightly restricted view of the
stage, particularly where the height of the stage prevents seeing the actors'
feet!).
Returns lines form outside the theatre from
around 8a.m, earlier for really hot shows and in summer. Wrap up warm, take refreshments, and be prepared to wait.
Make sure that you also take BOTH credit cards AND cash too, to the value of the
most expensive tickets (if you are prepared to pay it!). Some box offices insist
that you pay with one or the other specifically, depending on the source of the
tickets they are selling you.
Online
www.lastminute.com/theatrenow was
formed by the merger of the Theatrenow website's discount ticket service with
that of Lastminute.com. The result is a wider selection of offers, but not the
same clarity and easy to navigate site we remember from Theatrenow. The system
of allocating tickets on arrival is intact...but somehow it just isn't so much
fun anymore....
See Tickets, the box office division of the Really Useful Group (Mr Lloyd
Webber's company) also run theboxoffice.com
a site full of discounts and offers.
Showsavers / Theatrenet / Gr8tix / Hit The Theatre
Venerable website www.theatrenet.com has
discounts for those willing to register with the site. The same page can also be
reached with the address www.showsavers.co.uk.
Gr8tix is the junior version of this company. It offers discounts for
children and young adults. Offer types include "2 tickets for £8 (so the
accompanying adult comes free)", "1 free ticket with 4 purchased (1 of
up to 2 adults comes free)", "member and accompanying adult come
free" and also some tickets available to
19 to 21 year old students. Register online for them at www.theatrenet.com/gr8tix/
Hit The Theatre
is the first online site targeting youth aged
between 16 and 28. It offers cheap tickets to many productions, and has an
ambassador scheme to introduce theatre to this audience. More details at
www.hitthetheatre.co.uk.
For those aged 16 to 18 a scheme called '145' is exactly what it
says. See one show for £5. Find out more at
www.mousetrap.org.uk.
www.anightlessordinary.org.uk offers those under 26 free tickets
for a large selection of theatre events. An Arts Council
initiative, sponsored by the always worthwhile
www.metro.co.uk.
Afternoons
Increasingly, tickets for midweek afternoon performances are being sold more
cheaply. Sometimes this is a reduction in price; at other times the seating plan
is "re-drawn" to place more seats in a lower than usual price band.
The official show websites
A recent trend is to make exclusive discounts available via the official
website of the show. Worth visiting them and poking around a little - the offers
are not always easy to find, and may be hidden behind such links as
"booking information" or "news on the show."
Sometimes these are backed up by advertising on Google search engine. It can
pay dividends to visit Google, enter a search such as the show's title and / or
"London Theatre" and see what appears both in the results list...and
the sponsored advertisements at the side of the page.
Mailing Lists and Newspaper Clubs
Subsidised companies like the Royal National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare
Company and Royal Court, charge around £15 per year to have performance
schedules mailed to your home. You get priority booking before the public
(essential for some shows), and discounted ticket offers. These include a chance
to attend premieres at very low cost.
A free mailing list to get yourself on to is at
www.seetickets.com. This
runs exclusive online offers that can be extraordinary banana saving value.
The Ambassador Theatre Group run a scheme called 'Ambassador
Friends' offering discounts
and priority booking for £25 per year. Details on 020 8544 7424. Delfont
Mackintosh Theatre Priority
www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk is another scheme run by a Theatre
owner.
Newspapers including the Times, Sunday Times and Telegraph run
theatre clubs. Modest (or even free) membership fees allow readers to take advantage of special
offers published in those journals.
The London Evening Standard offers readers who sign up to their pre-pay
Eros card theatre discounts
too.
www.theaudienceclub.com:
Less than a pound a week entitles members to see a constantly
changing list of fringe (plus some West End venues) for previews of
productions for just £2 each. Get in before the critics!
Actor's fan clubs may also make offers.
Lovetheatre.com (formerly the London Theatre Club)
This company operate the Theatremonkey Ticketshop for this website.
Another free to join theatre
list offering discounts on a range of shows. It
e-mails members with new price updates frequently. The website site offers everything from theatre news to secure online
booking for a list of special offers. They also specialise in securing top price tickets for the 'sold-out' shows at relatively short notice. Visit the theatremonkey
ticketshop - book online and save time ..
Whatsonstage
www.whatsonstage.com is about the
most comprehensive London Theatre resource on the internet. It often features
very good ticket deals. Associate site www.unmissable.com
is also a good source of ideas for an day or evening out.
The Whatsonstage Theatregoers' Club offers an astounding range of benefits
from cheap tickets to allocations at sold out shows to discounts at restaurants
and car parks even when not attending a show.
Previews
Prior to the Opening Night when critics do their worst, the first few
performances are at reduced rate - about £5 a seat less, or sometimes half
price / "two seats for the price of one". The absolute earliest
performances of new work are sometimes cancelled at short notice, and if they go
ahead, shows can be radically altered before opening and full price performances
begin.
Minimise this risk by attending the last preview possible.
ShowPairs
Twofers to New Yorkers. These vouchers give two tickets for the price of one.
Pick them up in hotel lobbies, or get packets regularly mailed to your workplace.
A range of stuff is offered, similar to Leicester Square, but with the luxury of
advance booking.
Showpairs vouchers are also issued for "Meal and Show" deals -
get two of those for the price of one, and as "buy one show, get one
show free." Also straightforward discount vouchers - a price
reduction rather than "two for one" are sometimes made available
too.
Visit www.showpairs.co.uk for more
information. Note:
This company can only offer vouchers to corporations with more than 20
employees. It does not deal directly with individuals.
Groups
Put together a group of 10+ and save up to 50%. The bigger the group, the
lower the price and if not, negotiate. Theatremonkey does and it sometimes works. Extra
special rates often apply for schoolchildren and Senior Citizen parties at
midweek matinees.
Play the theatre and group booking specialist companies off
against eachother for prices, as both rates and seat locations on offer vary. It is your
cash and groups can be used to fill rotten seats if you are not careful.
The monkey has also found that the theatre's own box office are likely to
keep good seats back to sell themselves - so if location is important, it could
well be worth trying them first (and you should still get a reasonable discount,
too).
Local Coach Trips
If you cannot put your own group together, some coach tour companies within
fifty miles of London run public inclusive trips combining a ticket with
transport from their local area. These companies often schedule well ahead and
will have bought great seats at group rates in anticipation of a new hit show.
The result is a package for less than the price of a ticket alone. They have
fifty coach seats to fill from the local population. Why not travel a little way
out of town; see a new place in the day then join them for the trip. If staying
in the West End just politely tell the driver you will not be returning with the
coach to the starting point after the show. The Society of Ticket Agents
& Retailers website has a list of approved operators,
and local operators often advertise in their regional newspapers too.
Complementary Seats
Free tickets. Given to friends of the cast… if lucky. Also dished out to
Group Organisers (see above), to the bitterest complainers to theatre managers,
and to those in agencies, on mailing lists, in the tourist industry, nurses,
police and armed services etc, etc. Check your place of work. Also given to
those who invest in the play, but lashing out £1000 or so for two tickets seems
a little extreme.
Reader Brin suggests that,
"If you can find out when an agency night is, then hang round the front of house,
noticing those people with name tags and holding white envelopes.
Find out where they are from, even talk to them, chat them up a bit and just ask if there are any spare un collected
tickets just before the show starts.
You can do the same thing during the interval - there are lots of people who have been given freebies but leave at
half time, just ask them for their tickets!"
An interesting approach feels the monkey, and an interesting wheeze indeed.
Special Offers
The Sunday Times and London Evening Standard particularly, carry adverts
offering discounts on major shows at quieter times of the year - in London
generally Midwinter to late Spring, excluding Bank Holiday periods. These range
from 50% off to two for one offers by quoting a reference at the box office.
Sunday Times offers are found in the 'Culture' section. London Evening
Standard offers are found particularly in the Thursday 'Hot Tickets' supplement
(inside the front cover is a notable position), and around the 'Theatre
Listings' section of the main newspaper on a daily basis - with extra offers on
Fridays and during school vacation periods. Also check the Evening Standard
website
www.thisislondon.com
Last
Minute.com/theatrenow offer a
wide range of discounted tickets, if you can book "at the last
minute". This is a site worth checking at the special offers are
extensive.
Listings magazine 'Time Out' also carries some offers, not just in it's
theatre listings section but scattered throughout the magazine and buried at the
foot of feature articles. These are worth looking out for. It also runs a
"Premiere Club" with extra offers for members. Look out for the
"free" membership offer on the website.
Big
musicals often make out of season offers in these media as producers keep the show alive till the new
tourist season begins. Cameron Mackintosh shows (even Phantom of the Opera)
are often sold this way. Also see the theatremonkey current
special offers page.
London Transport sometimes give holders of their 'Oyster' electronic travel cards a
chance to buy cheap tickets at
www.tfl.gov. Other variations include combined meal/show packages where you get dinner in
a decent restaurant plus a ticket for the price of a ticket alone. Again,
details are on the current
special offers page.
Become a Judge
Every year the Society of London Theatre appoint members of the public to the
panel which makes the annual Laurence Olivier Awards. Panelists get a pair of
free (not always good) seats to every opening that year. For a true theatre buff
this is a big saving, but also a real commitment.
See www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk
for details.
Become a Teacher!
One reader suggests this method:
"It's a little extreme and has to be done in steps but it works for me:
1) get some GCSE's. (English / Welsh examinations taken at 16),
2) get some A levels (English / Welsh examinations taken at 18),
3) get a degree,
4) get a PGCE (the Post Graduate Certificate Of Education - a course training
you to become a teacher),
5) get a teaching job,
6) volunteer to go on every trip to the theatre going. If you have to supervise a group of kids you get to go for free, as you're working.
The best way is to let the English or Drama teacher do all the booking, organising the coach, planning the trip etc."
Teachers can actually join the "Teachers Preview Club" run by
Ticketmaster and the Mousetrap Foundation. For an annual membership fee they get
two top price tickets per year at a discount, plus invitations to cheap and free
performances and events and also discount hotel rooms. To join or get the latest
available offers, teachers should call 020 7413 3545. For information and a
membership pack, call 020 7836 4399 or email info@mousetrap.org.uk.
The Mousetrap Foundation
This charity aims to help schools and families attend West End theatre. They
can be contacted on 020 7836 4388, fax 020 7836 4399, email info@mousetrap-fdn.demon.co.uk,
website www.mousetrap.org.uk.
Upgrade Your Bank Account
Reader Ken pointed out that the Royal Bank of Scotland "Royalties
International" Account comes with the benefit of both hotel and theatre
ticket discounts when you book using their services. Savings of up to 25% are
possible. More information at www.rbsint.com
or call 01534 285536.
Other banks may offer similar discounts through their accounts - worth
checking out, feels the monkey.
Restricted View Seats
Always sold cheap - the price formula is: seat price reduced in proportion to
area of stage visible e.g. 50% viewable = 50% discount off price of nearest full
view ticket. Sometimes a pillar is the problem. This monkey though has got
great, cheap seats half under the stage where eccentric set design has overhung
the front row.
Restricted view seats are officially not sold anywhere except from the box office
directly, usually over the counter to personal callers who can be shown the
seats on the seating plan or even be taken into the auditorium to view them. This prevents a customer claiming 'we were not told
these were restricted'.
The existence of restricted view seats is also kept secret and prices not
generally displayed or circulated. Theatremonkey features those it can on the
site, but advises double checking with the box office to see if extra seats have
been added after the play opened. Producers sometimes do this when the final
staging has been settled and the impact from each seat assessed..
The best way to book a restricted view seat in advance is to call the box
office or theatre chain call centre and ask for the seat by precise number. If
you show you know what you are talking about, clerks will generally sell the
seats to you in advance.
It may, however, take pressure to get these seats. Often box offices will deny
all knowledge of cheap seats in the expensive parts of the theatre until all the
really cheap, grotty tickets have been sold. Stand up to them and get closer to
the stage for less cash, even if you do not see the whole of it!
Theatremonkey feels it better to be close to the stage and see some of it,
then watch ants from the balcony - but decide for yourself which you prefer.
Check plans accessed from Venue
Names or Show
Titles A to Z for the bargains.
The Upper Circle Trick
Buy the cheapest ticket in the Upper Circle or Balcony. On a quiet night the
theatre will close them, and you will be promoted to the costlier seats
downstairs. This works on less popular shows only of course!
REMEMBER THOUGH:
This is your money. If you hold a front row ticket with a
good view in the Upper Circle, don't be fobbed off with a rear Dress Circle seat with a lesser
command. Argue and move.
Sometimes a theatre will refuse to sell a ticket in the Upper Circle over the
telephone, claiming them to be 'unavailable'. This often means that the staff
have been told not to sell the tickets in order to push the more expensive seats
first. Turn up on the night and you should be able to buy those 'unavailable'
tickets over the counter, and then be moved to the better seats.
If you must buy in advance, simply telephone an agency. If they can offer
Upper Circle seats at box office price, buy - you stand a good chance of getting
moved to better seats on the night.
The Moving Forward Trick
If the Upper Circle or Balcony is likely to be kept open, and your pockets
are deeper, buy the cheapest seat in the Stalls or Dress Circle and move forward
to an unoccupied seat. Having an aisle seat makes this easier.
Moving forwardto unoccupied seats is frowned on. You may well be asked to
move back, if the management have not specifically given you permission - but it
does pay to ask an usher if you can move, about a minute before curtain up, thus
legitimising your action. Moving seems less frowned on after the interval, but
the foregoing still stands.
You may well end up stuck in your original seat, and at worst be surrounded
by those who paid less and got moved downstairs via the Upper Circle Trick.
Theatremonkey does not find this method pans out, though friends say it does,
and it helps to pretend you do not understand English if asked to move. All too
sneaky for Theatremonkey's liking, but not as sneaky as...
...Downright Dishonest - No responsibility taken if you try this stuff. Details are
for FUN ONLY and are NOT ENDORSED OR ENCOURAGED BY THE WRITER or WEBSITE.
Walking in at halftime, after mixing with the smoking crowd in the
street, is an old art. Tickets are not often checked after the interval, so drift into
the theatre auditorium with the crowd, wait till the last second then head for a
(hopefully) unsold and thus empty, seat. You do of course see only half the
show, but it serves you right as this is straight stealing and you deserve your
starring role next day in court. Strangely this trick works for sold out shows
as people always leave at half time and scalpers unsold stock leave seats empty.
Fake ID Cards
proving eligibility for discounts can be bought from mail
order ads / manufactured on computer / produced using transfer letters. This is 'obtaining financial advantage by deception' and carries a
hefty prison sentence. It also breaches the goodwill of producers who make these
offers, spoiling things for the genuine.
Joining an evening class at a local college often yields a student ID card.
For a theatre studies student, monkey guesses it is OK to use, but square your own
conscience if you are learning macramé. Some join a college annually just for
the card, and find the savings more than cover the cost of enrolment. They never
show for a class 'cos they are always at the theatre.
My friend forgot
is another criminal deception. You really are a student,
your friend isn't. Ask for seats, and if a card is required, produce one, then
make a great search for the other. Usually the kind clerk will let you have the
ticket anyway.
Just asking for a discount, if you look student age or distinguished grey can
sometimes get you a seat without a card even being asked for. Criminal, yeah,
but in this case you weren't asked so… a 50/50 responsibility maybe?
My Mother is in there with the tickets
can get you past the checks. You
may or may not be sought out when you don't reappear, and ejected. Theft again.
So don't try it.
Use an old ticket as few staff check all the details. If the theatre
name and style of ticket match, a thumb over the date takes care of the rest. A
nasty deception. Do not do it.
Make a ticket For the computer literate. Scan an old ticket in, alter,
and hey presto - three years for forgery on top of your prison sentence for
theft and deception. Not worth it and do not try it.
