Are theatre tickets too expensive?

YES, says Julia Dorrington

Truth be told, if you want to see a popular production, you’re probably going to have to really pay for it and going to the theatre often means facing the cheap seats, or even standing. You came to see a play about discrimination and societal problems, but perhaps you didn’t realise how ironically involved you would be.

A ticket to Alan Ayckbourn play, Arrivals & Departures, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborourgh, could set you back £1,500 for a luxury package. This is extortionate and of course matched with moderate £13 seats. Yet I still feel that the result of these premium tickets means that fewer seats are being sold at a reasonable price. The answer to the burning question ‘why?!’ is that the theatre has had its public funding cut by 18% since 2010. ‘Frankly we can do with the money,’ says Sir Alan. Undoubtedly, the five day package, which follows rehearsals, Q&As and a premium seat is for theatre enthusiasts, but what about the majority and the real theatre buffs?

For the best seat in the house, £150 is what you’ll pay for the latest West End showstopper, The Book of Mormon, while the cheapest seat with a restricted view will set you back £37.50. It is understandable that due to inflation ticket prices must go up. The National Theatre’s original £10 Travelex tickets have increased to £12. That’s still a bargain, but when will it rise again? For a chance of cheaper seats at certain venues, paying to become a member could mean that you get first pick of tickets before their general release. This is when most of the tickets under £50 get whipped up for the Royal Opera House and Ballet. Again though, a subscription is a privilege that comes at a price.

NO, says Harley Ryley

Theatre ticket prices are extortionate: the words spoken by so many students as they surf the web for cheap seats in London’s West End, eagerly seeking tickets which don’t involve having to stand on the roof, or peer at Jude Law from behind a pillar. However, this simply isn’t the case across the country as a whole. Indeed, many of the biggest theatre companies in the UK are doing their best to encourage students and young people to attend their productions, with prices lower than even child concessions for many productions.

Take the RSC Key, which offers decent seats at £5 a piece for 16-25 year olds at every production in Stratford-upon-Avon, as well as limited £5 tickets for Matilda in London. That is cheaper even than our own Arts Centre, which still comes in pretty cheap, with £6 tickets available to Warwick students for many productions. The same can be said for the National Theatre, which has its own 16-25 scheme ‘Entry Pass’, again offering £5 tickets. And if you’re desperate to see something in the West End, then many theatres offer day release tickets, which you can queue for.

Now we’re not talking about small-scale amateur productions here, but nationally renowned companies, offering cheap tickets that don’t include standing up for a three hour production of Hamlet, or a restricted view. Ticket prices can be expensive for theatre productions generally, but if you search for the deals and make the most of that so-often negative ‘student’ label, suddenly your wallet will be groaning that little bit less.