do theatres just really hate poor people (or anyone who can’t go to the theatre due to multiple reasons, like travel and general life stuff, not to mention the price of tickets) that much, so much so that they’re afraid that pro-shots (professionally filmed live recording versions of their plays) will hurt their beloved revenue and that providing ordinary people access to their art in another available form is, by theatres’ logic, “not good” or some shit?
Like, OH NO! We can’t possibly give free access to one of our own plays to the ordinary Woking person cuz of our precious revenue 🥺🥺😭😭 /sarcasm
(Btw this isn’t targeting at a specific theatre, this is just a general theatre problem that deffo needs addressing and stuff)
on the one hand i can sort of see WHY it's expensive, especially west end etc (considering i live in london) but it's so unfair on the average person. it's ridiculous for me to drop upwards of £80 on theatre tickets, often the only reason i'm able to is bc of subtitled showings having a discount for deaf people (both my parents) - but even then there's rarely any subtitled showings. accessibility is such a huge issue in theatre istg i could go on and on and on and on
I completely agree with this and in 1809 there were riots due to the prices. BUT as someone who goes to the theatre way too much, there are plenty of affordable ways but it may mean you won't get to see every west end show. Now this advice here is very London centric but some of this applies to everywhere.
The ENO does free under 25 tickets. The National Theatre offers tickets for £10 for under 25s (I believe this also includes concessions). The Globe has standing tickets for £5. The Almeida does free nights (again for under 25 unfortunately). The Pleasance Theatre is another good shout.
The main thing to do is check directly on the theatre websites when things are released. I try never to spend more than £20 on one ticket and most theatres will have these prices available, the seats won't be amazing but I've personally always been able to see a good portion of the stage (other than the Old Vic). There are also schemes you can get into but I don't know anything about that.
Pub theatre/fringe. There is some AMAZING stuff out there and tickets are usually between £10-£15. The Play That Goes Wrong started in a pub. With fringe I just follow my personal interests either the play or the form (experimental, ect). There are musicals out there as well and I highly recommend keeping an eye open on the run up to Edinburgh Fringe as tickets are extremely cheap with groups trying new material.
The last thing is online theatre! It will never be as fun but it's a great affordable resource. The British Library have an archive full of things if you know what you're looking for, it's all free and you just need a Readers Pass and to ask in advance. National Theatre Online and Marquee Tv is great (I often get these for a month and then cancel). Drama Online is a resource many universities/schools have so if you're studying send an email to your teacher. Youtube is another brilliant option. It has allowed me to discover amazing non-english musicals and sometimes national theatre put stuff up for a week that you can see for free.
Any questions or if you want any links/help finding things let me know and I'll be happy to help (I love theatre and researching it and trying to find stuff and if it's shakespeare I've probably already seen it so can help out even more)!
