Enjoy the theatre for less
1) Buy direct
Quite often it's worth buying the tickets direct from the venue itself - either by phone or in person. That's because if you use a ticket agency you'll be charged booking fees and possibly postage fees which will boost the price a fair bit.
2) Discounted tickets
That said, the internet can provide great discounts on tickets and it's well worth checking out sites like lastminute.com, DiscountTheatre, SeatWave, Whatsonstage.com and - last but definitely not least, TheatreMonkey.
The monkey's Special Offers page unflaggingly collects every offer on London theatre tickets available anywhere. Yes, anywhere - from official discounts to press promotions to agencies selling off tickets cheap.
The site doesn't appear to make any money from these listings directly - it's all a labour of love. There's always a vast number of plays on offer, and usually some cracking discounts on musicals too.
You could also contact the venue directly to ask how you can get the cheapest possible tickets. For example, at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre there are 700 'groundling' tickets available per performance for just £5. And fans of BBC's summer proms series can get their hands on 500 arena and gallery tickets available each night for £5, half an hour before each performance.
You can also get cheap or even complementary tickets for shows and concerts if you register with showsavers.co.uk, seetickets.com and showpairs.co.uk. Showpairs is particularly good if you want two tickets for the price of one (but maybe you guessed that already!).
3) Go free if you're under 26
If you're under 26, check out A Night Less Ordinary which has been launched by Arts Council England. In a nutshell, it’s offering free tickets to shows across England for anyone aged between 16 and 25. Visit the ANightLessOrdinary website to find out more.
And that's not all. If you're aged 13 to 18, it's also worth signing up with Gr8tix to get special offers. And if you're 16 to 28, you can get cheap tickets via hitthetheatre.co.uk.
Meanwhile, those aged 16 to 18, can see one show for £5 - known as the 145 scheme. Check out mousetrap.org.uk for more details.
4) Visit the fringe
Pub comedy nights and fringe theatres are where the stars of the future start out - and you’ll get to see them for next to nothing!
If you can’t afford a West End show, hunt down your local fringe venue and see what’s on.
If you live in London and want cheap tickets to cutting edge productions, sign up with theaudienceclub.com. This amazing site not only sends out details of quirky fringe events (and even some West shows), it will sell you tickets for just £2! The shows are all new and in preview - so you'll always be ahead of the crowd, whatever you see.
5) Choose your seat carefully
Unfortunately, not all theatre seats were created equal. In London and elsewhere, some £55 plus stalls seats can offer a very poor view, while seats for a few pounds high in the gods can be cracking value for money. It all depends on the theatre.
A few years ago, you would have had to know where to book, but once again, Theatremonkey comes to the rescue. The site has a seating plan of every major London theatre, with each seat colour-coded for value for money.
For example, if you wanted to book discounted tickets for Pitmen Painters at the Lyttelton theatre at the National, it would be wise to have the seating plan and seat opinions to hand as you booked.
The monkey is pleasingly frank. Commenting on the Lyttelton's rear circle, he notes: "Some distance from the stage, it is greedy to charge third price for these tickets... The policy was introduced in the reign of Mr Nunn...who should probably be slightly ashamed of himself."
Here at lovemoney.com, our own favourite cheap seats are the front three rows of the Olivier theatre at the National Theatre in London, which are often sold at bottom price, since they're near the stage. However, we have no problem whatsoever with the view from row C, and the people directly behind in row D will have paid top price for their tickets, with essentially the same view.
These sell out fast. At the National, I find it's well worth joining the advance membership scheme, which only costs £12.50, but lets you book 24 hours in advance of the crowds.
Just as good are the front slips at the Royal Court (currently on cracking form with Enron). You're in the position of the old royal boxes. Admittedly, you'll have to lean forward when the action moves to one side of the stage, but for £12 these are hard to beat.
6) Buy last-minute tickets
It's always worth checking whether the price of the ticket goes down if you buy last-minute. Theatres like to sell their seats, particularly at the front, or the theatre looks depressingly empty.
If you live in London, TKTS, operated by the Society of London Theatre, sells discount tickets from a booth in Leicester Square. It has discounts for shows on the same day and up to seven days ahead. Their website will show you what's available at any given moment, but you can only actually buy by queuing up in Leicester Square.
7) Theatre offers
Some theatres have a structural commitment to cheap tickets, usually those which receive Arts Council funding.
For example, the National runs the well-known £10 Travelex scheme, where you can get any seat for a tenner.
The Royal Court has £10 Mondays, which do exactly what they say on the tin. For these, you'll need to book well in advance. Join the theatre's mailing list for notification of when the booking season opens.
The Arcola Theatre in Hackney, known for good experimental work, has a Pay What You Can evening each Tuesday. As does the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn.
It would be remiss not to mention the Globe - 700 standing tickets are available at £5 for every performance. And supposedly these tickets have the best view in the theatre.
8) Get a free ticket AND do a good deed
If you fancy a free theatre ticket in London, you could sign up as a volunteer Access Assistant with charity Shape.
Shape gives disabled and elderly people the chance to access the best entertainment and arts events that London has to offer.
The scheme could not operate without its dedicated army of volunteer Access Assistants, who freely donate their time to escort deaf or disabled members to arts and entertainment events. In return, the volunteer gets a free night out as well as the knowledge that they have helped to make a huge difference to the quality of someone's life. Sign up here.
Want to cut the cost of going out to the theatre? Why not ask a question using our Q&A tool? You may find that other members of lovemoney.com have experiences they can share which will help you. Or if you know a few tricks yourself, why not share them using the tips box below?
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