Only yesterday I was mentioning here that I’d seen sixteen shows in the previous twelve days; but I was clearly slacking. Someone I know who lives in LA - where he works for a film studio, but is a keen theatregoer - was in London for six nights last week, and managed to fit in 11 shows between Monday and Saturday! He flew from LA the Saturday before, stopping over in New York (where he saw one show on Saturday evening and another at the Sunday matinee), then flew on overnight on Sunday night; on his way back last Sunday, he again stopped over in New York, going into town to see one more show before going back to the airport to fly on home! So in the course of nine days, he saw fourteen shows.
No, it isn’t a competition - but here’s an interesting difference: he actually pays for all of his tickets. So he makes a commitment of time as well as money for something he is passionate about. But he rarely, if ever, pays full price - quizzing him on his week here, he’d managed to get deals like a £10 ticket to Gone with the Wind from lastminute.com and a £20 day seat for Marguerite. Sometimes, the availability of an offer dictates his choices: finding none for The Deep Blue Sea, for instance, he chose not to see it. (Yet when I went myself to last Saturday evening’s performance, the stalls was probably a third full. Surely the producers should start getting offers out and audiences in?)
But part of the reason he was able to load his schedule with quite so many shows is the availability of more variable matinee days and times.
Whereas New York only offers them on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, he was able to see matinees on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday here, as well as a double bill on Friday with an early show at 5.30pm, then a second one at 8.30pm. (And if he’d stayed to the Sunday, he would have found some choices available there, too - in the past Sunday used to be a London theatrical write-off, but nowadays there are enough shows running then to make it a viable theatregoing day. And when the Donmar Warehouse takes up its West End residency at Wyndham’s in September, it will be playing a Tuesday to Sunday schedule there by choice).
So you can find flexibility of time and price in most London theatres now, all of which proves that it is definitely a business geared towards the consumer’s interests, rather than the convenience of the providers (as some London coffee shops - and airports like Heathrow and airlines like British Airways - typically make you feel). And there’s obviously always something new to see: in fact, during my friend’s week here he beat me to it on four new shows that I’d not seen myself yet!
I also mentioned here yesterday that my previous 12 days had included four “repeats” of productions I had seen earlier incarnations of, but seeing them again was by invitation, as they now embarked on another chapter of their lives. Yesterday I actually chose to re-book (and in this case, pay!) for two more next month. First I got a press release that the current Royal Court Theatre Upstairs production of Oxford Street is going “environmental” - no, it’s not going to Oxford Street itself, but even more radically to a currently vacant shop in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre! Since this is my “local” - and despite the fact that most of London considers it a joke (though it is no longer painted pink, the legacy remains), I actually love it - I couldn’t resist booking to see a show there! And the best bit: tickets are just £8! Book today!
And then I got my credit card out - or at least my Maestro card, since my credit card got summarily cancelled last week when its security was somehow compromised and online transactions were being made that weren’t mine - to book again for The Pitmen Painters. I’ve not raced back from a first night and gone online to re-book immediately to see something again since War Horse, also at the National - but this is an absolute cracker. And though some performances are still showing availability, book now for this, too. It’s going to sell out, and is currently only booking to June 25. Perhaps it’ll find another life in the West End - or the National can bring it back to the Lyttelton.
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