Regular readers will know that I’ve been banging on for some time now about the rampant greed of West End theatre producers and owners who are marking an ever-widening area of their floorplans off to sell off at premium prices, though I’m also regularly told anecdotally that it isn’t always working for them: an actor friend who went to see South Pacific at the Barbican recently told me that he was put off paying the £85 asked for most of the stalls seats, so instead opted for a top balcony ticket at £20, only to find himself moved down to the stalls anyway when the theatre closed the top level.
So maybe it’s a way to get a good bargain, and I shouldn’t be discouraging producers from over-pricing their tickets to an extent that no one buys them at all. In a recent interview with ATG chief executives Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire in The Stage - who happen to be the UK producers of South Pacific - Alistair Smith suggested that the way premium pricing is supposed to work is that “if the seats aren’t sold at that inflated price, they might later be reduced to the official top price and then offered at that lower price instead. It’s a model that marks one of the first steps that the theatre industry has taken towards fully dynamic models of pricing - a move that has already been fully embraced by other industries such as airlines.”
So it is not meant to leave seats unsold but to fill them instead, but the perception of such high prices seems to be putting people off from buying them at all. Yet in The Stage interview, Panter — who says ATG are introducing a new ticketing platform that is going to be integrated with its own marketing database — says, “Dynamic pricing in real time is the Holy Grail. That’s what we’re working towards with the new system. In my view, it will be one of the biggest single changes in theatre in my lifetime. It’s a huge step change. That [dynamic pricing in real time] linked to 4.9 million households on our database — that is going to be one of the biggest changes. It’s going to be a massive saving for the theatre industry. I think it will increasingly cut out the need for print advertising.”
So there’s yet another blow to print journalism, as theatre producers, too, withdrew their advertising dollars. But aren’t producers threatening their own livelihoods, too? Steve Rich of Theatremonkey.com, the invaluable website that offers a partly crowd-sourced, partly personally experienced personal guide to the best and worst seats at every West End theatre (and has coincidentally been recently used by the producers of Ghost to determine which seats precisely they should designate as premium), recently reported, “At one smash hit new musical, Theatremonkey.com has already had two reports of readers asking to be moved in advance / being moved on the day by the venue to fill gaps in the ‘premium’ area. This begs the question, ‘Will advance bookers alter their habits once word gets out?’ We already know that consumers play ‘chicken’ with any retailer who has either perishable stock like holidays to sell, or deadlines like Christmas Day to shift merchandise. Whoever blinks first suffers - and it seems to be the seller more often than not.”
It could, he feels, lead to a fatal erosion of advance sales - “I’m not much for ‘advance booking’ myself, but if I do, and know that if I wait until a week before I could get far better seats for the same price… I’ll wait. Regular theatregoers - the lifeblood of new shows for their first few weeks until word spreads - are a clever bunch, and are likely (I predict) to do the same. Result: no interest earned on advance cash, no people safely booked in who will spread the word about a show, no nice cushion of cash in the box office for a producer to launch an new project from.”
In fact, regular theatregoers, too, are the ones punished by premium pricing; their good money is no longer good enough to secure the best seats (since those are held back for premium buyers), and my worry is that they’ll simply find other ways to spend their money. If £60 no longer guarantees you a best seat, but one stuck in the back row of the stalls or beside a pillar, why bother?
And the message is now getting louder and louder that tickets are reaching silly prices. On the weekend, the Sunday Times ran a piece pointing out that tickets for Mamma Mia! at the Prince of Wales Theatre have now “broken through the £100 barrier”, with a premium ticket for Saturday evening’s performance of the show selling at £103, including the unavoidable booking fee, and that “the three-figure fee is a milestone for theatreland.”
But Richard Brooks, the Sunday Times arts editor who filed the story, notes drily, “West End theatres are already facing the first indications that their imperviousness to the recession is in doubt, with falling revenues. Now tickets prices are nearing £100, the fear is that audiences will find the cost prohibitive.”
Mark Rubinstein, current president of SOLT, tells Brooks, “It would obviously be terrible if theatre became too expensive to afford. Yes, there are some very high prices now, particularly the new premium seats, but there is also a broad range.”
But is there? In a recent feature in Time Out on the escalation of ticket prices, the magazine’s theatre editor Caroline McGinn made this good point: “Let’s call it the Waitrose theory. Those who can afford a luxury item are actually happy to pay more for it, because the high price confirms its value. It’s a notion that now props up the whole structure of West End ticket pricing (oh, and our semi-collapsing financial system). Demand, not value, dictates price: from that permanent Broadway import the ‘Premium Seat’, down the slippery slope of heavily discounted tickets to the so-called cheap seats which, with a face value of more than £25 for big musicals like Ghost and Legally Blonde, are ‘cheap’ only in the same sense that they are comfortable.” In other words, not at all.
But Caroline digs further, and notes that not only are prices going up at the top end, but says, “More worrying is the price-creep at the lower end - and the practice of inflating face value ticket prices in order to make the inevitable discount look better. In 2010, average ticket price asked at Society of London Theatre (SOLT) venues (all the commercial West End and some Off-West End houses like the Donmar) was £45.12. That’s a £4.14 increase in 4 years. But compare that to the real average price paid by theatre-goers: £36.20, about 75 per cent of face value and only £1.74 more than in 2007.”
She goes on to worry, “Doesn’t face value inflation plus aggressive discounting risk devaluing what, for most people, is a luxury occasion? High stakes (and high rents) already discourage creativity on a West End which hasn’t produced a decent British musical for yonks.” And she quotes Nick Hytner who notes, “In the long term, it is nuts to push up the prices of cheap seats which are cheap for a good reason.”
By becoming more and more expensive, yet then panicking and reducing prices to fill at the last minute, the West End is simultaneously over-pricing and then cheapening itself, in every sense.
Theatre owners and producers should be mindful that not all their audience has either the time or the inclination to seek out last minute, or super-cheap deals. If you're coming as a treat from out of town, you pretty much have to pay the full asking price, as you'll be organising train fare, accommodation etc as well, and can't book all of that in the hope you'll be able to get a discounted seat.
All this price inflation does is make people think, well, sod it. I'll spend my money on something else, or indeed somewhere else, which may be why we seem to be seeing something of a renaissance in regional theatre. Perhaps it's an ATG strategy? Price people out of the West End, so that they are willing to pay more at their local, or regional theatre?
Once again a great article Mark.Let greedy greedy greedy Producers charge the earth for stalls and circle, but when uppers are around £40 that is a real kick in the teeth for folk that really can't afford it.And as in pre-booking way in advance, it's always meant you don't really get the best seats generally.Living in the West End I despair every time I pass a Theatre. It's just not like it was 20 years ago.
Mr Shenton: Please do not stop banging on about premium prices!!
Only last night a retired friend said he didn't go to see South Pacific because of the high seat prices.
Two weeks after we booked our £85 seats they emailed me a special offer of a free 'upgrade' from cheaper seats to the £85! Wonderful! Once again those of us who book up in advance and pay the premium prices are ripped off.
The show was so fantastic so I didn't mind!
As to the "fully dynamic models of pricing - a move that has already been fully embraced by other industries such as airlines.” What rubbish!
Earlier this year we bought tickets for a flight to Dublin for £25 because we booked six months in advance. Buying the tickets later would have cost £100 more. What a shame we could not do the same for South Pacific. Buy six months in advance and save £40. I wish I knew why we have to pay more to book in advance.
This year the Fringe Theatres (Landor/Tabard/Union/Southward Playhouse/Theatre Above the Stag) have offered fantastic productions at a fraction of the ticket cost of the West End.
As Richard says 'Sod it!' But we love the theatre too much to say that!
Great piece, Mark. I particularly liked your point about savvy consumers playing chicken with vendors.
It pays to wait for discounted tickets to a long-runner, or a starless but good show which can't recoup at current ticket prices, like 'Betty Blue Eyes'. But then, you have to book early and maybe go to a late preview to get a bargain on a show that looks like it's going to be big, good and popular, especially if it has a limited run.
That means that the ticket sales market is effectively credit-rating a show long before critics get near it (i.e 'Spiderman': commercially fireproof long before it was a critical flop).
Amidst all this negativity about the West End, which I entirely agree with, I would like to commend houses such as Royal Court, National, Almeida. They have online booking systems that work. They have seating plans that show you exactly what you are getting. There are not many seats held back, and combined with Theatremonkey, you know exactly what you are getting.
Compare that with booking at RUG See Tickets which ranks as the worst online system. Booking well in advance for MATILDA, with them acting as main box office provider, there is no self-selection of seats. What's worse is they tell you outright lies when they say they have selected the best available seats. Hit your 'back' button a few times and reselect and often the selection will creep along a row from the end to better centre seats. You still find that the best non-premium seats are still not released for online sales.
I have decided not to go to WE shows I need to book in advance if I can't get a reasonable non-premium seat. There are, at the moment, plenty of Fringe and subsidised venues to keep my theatre going happy.
West End theatre owners are, at the end of the day, a lot of self-trading barrow boys (and girls). Charging outrageous rents to producers, and squeezing all of the profits out for their gain only (programs, bar sales, % of merchandise sold, ticketing fees) - and then giving themselves sweetheart deals, and months of no rent paid when they produce shows in venues they also own. Why not? Pockets are full of dosh they've piled up from outside producers. And the outside producers are forced to charge as much as they feel they can to attempt to get a return on the ever increasing costs of producing in the West End. It's a vicious circle with no end in sight. And as we can see from looking at the listings, despite precious mumblings about 'art', the owners will give up their precious playhouses to any piece of crap that will foolishly offer to pay full price for the venue.
I tend to book in advance so I can sort out my travel arrangements. I also don't have enough time to see all the theatre I would like to. Day seats are no good for me as I am outside London.
If something is too expensive when booking opens, I cross it off my list. If prices come down later, I've already got an alternative booked and so I won't book even at the lower prices. So, I didn't go to see The Children's Hour, Flarepath, the current Tempest, South Pacific etc. I've been going to a lot more smaller venues recently.
The airline booking model only works because to some extent airline travel is a necessity eg for business, visiting family. Theatre-going is always a discretionary spend.
Great piece Mark. Headlong recently offered £35 seats for £25 when booking Decade in advance, if only more shows offered better deals for booking ahead. Also wouldn't it be nice to fill empty seats close to opening time at discounted prices on a more regular basis.
I must say I'm mystified by the West End's pricing. As a consultant who has worked with US non-profit theatres to implement dynamic pricing, I (and the airlines, by the way) have things the other way round. We set realistic prices and raise them in response to demand as the show date grows nearer. We encourage early bookers (good for cash flow) and make extra revenue as prices go up if the show is a hit.
Sounds rather like the West End producers have the opposite model going--set unrealistic prices then discount like mad to move the inventory. In their world, you have to have a hit to make the prices work. Otherwise the constant discounting makes them look like they have a flop on their hands and enrages the punters who buy early.
In the long run, this explains why theatres are showing more commercial fare; if you rely on high prices paid by tourists, you can't take the time or risk involved in serious theatre. Broadway makes some of the same mistakes and look what that's done--nearly every new show is a jukebox musical, a revival, or a showcase for a TV star. No wonder Cirque de Soleil has set up camp on Broadway. They fit right in.
So have I Mark.
been going to the Theatre for over 40 years now, and this greed, this ever-higher raising of the bar has to stop! For example, I will NOT be paying £90 to see Driving Miss Daisy! or a similar amount for The Lion win Winter. What the hell is going on here! The lifeblood of Theatre, certainly in London, is us the long-suffering theatrebuffs (not tourists) who have to pass on so many (in my case) Plays because of the crippling ticket prices. Have Producers no principles/scruples! In fact I have turned my attention and wallet to productions at Richmond, Bath, Brighton, Guildford, Almeida, Royal Court, NT. " charge what we think the market (patrons) will bear", well I for one am fed up with being used as Theatre Producers 'cash cow'!
The short-termism of the West End producers is sad to see. I like many of the the above go to the theatre regularly but the last play I saw in West End was Betrayal ( a group of us from work went so we got a slight reduction on tickets), at the current rate it may well be the last.Or I'll just get "cheap" tickets on the day, but even half price on a premium is not cheap!
It's not even like you get anything for the premium seats, complimentary drink and programme at least?? ( a smile from ushers in some theatres would be nice too!)
Good news for NT and Royal Court etc I suppose. All in all it looks like the trend will continue, have we hit the £100 mark for "premium" seats yet?? If not I reckon it won't be long. I'm not sure ANY play/musical is worth that!