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Post by alexandra on Sept 8, 2016 11:54:21 GMT
Jessica Brown Findlay and Luke Thompson. It'll be pretty, anyway.
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367 posts
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Post by MrBunbury on Sept 8, 2016 12:06:25 GMT
I still haven't managed to get my tickets so I am losing hope. I had several tickets in my basket five times but the website crashed and everything disappeared...
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Post by Jan on Sept 8, 2016 13:02:33 GMT
Jessica Brown Findlay and Luke Thompson. It'll be pretty, anyway. Richard Lumsden as Polonius ? Just guessing.
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50 posts
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Post by cmcphail on Sept 8, 2016 13:03:07 GMT
It took two and a half hours of waiting for the site to load before I finally managed to get everything booked.
Their website seems almost too bad to be unintentional. Surely they are sick of people rightfully complaining at them about it.
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Post by Jan on Sept 8, 2016 13:03:46 GMT
I still haven't managed to get my tickets so I am losing hope. I had several tickets in my basket five times but the website crashed and everything disappeared... That's not fair, you're getting the same level of service for free that I paid £50 membership fee for.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2016 13:36:23 GMT
What an absolute farce. Four hours down the line and no sign of any interaction with a seating plan...
I love how their error page suggests attempting a telephone booking. Unless their telephone booking operation is a call centre staffed by every out of work actor in the city, I don't see how that that could be any more proficient than a website that should be able to withstand demand.
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923 posts
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Post by Snciole on Sept 8, 2016 13:44:15 GMT
I've got unnecessarily arsey with some poor social media person because the website has been awful for as long as I can remember. Booking period after booking period nothing has been done to improve it and I have no reason to believe they are actually working on it when they've failed to fix it before. There are smaller theatres, with less money that manage to have a system that doesn't fall over.
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Sept 8, 2016 13:45:59 GMT
I eventually managed to get in and book but what a palaver
i also got arsey with their social media people, particularly when they claimed this was due to "exceptional demand" - pointed out this happens every time and so it's not exceptional! Just ridiculous and as you point out every other theatre seems to have sorted this with a queuing system
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184 posts
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Post by demelza on Sept 8, 2016 13:55:59 GMT
After a combined four hours between my friend and I we were finally able to get a pair of tickets! I was beginning to think we'd miss out again after failing to get tickets for Richard III! I can only hope the production is going to be worth all this hassle!
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628 posts
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Post by theatremiss on Sept 8, 2016 13:58:14 GMT
Found my basket again so got the £10 seats I wanted (or rather, the ones I had to take because my first choice left one seat going begging) but like Jasmine it took AGES to run the payment process. Still, got there in the end. Good luck everyone still struggling! And thank you for getting me a ticket, you have the knack.
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367 posts
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Post by MrBunbury on Sept 8, 2016 14:36:56 GMT
Finally I got the tickets. I am proud to be more headstrong than the Almeida website )
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181 posts
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Post by argon on Sept 8, 2016 14:38:57 GMT
With cloud space readily available & abundant now for all booking/queued procedures what ever excuse The Almeida Box office provide for this situation will no longer wash. They meed to drop the exceptional demand nonsense & just deal with the problem otherwise the true issue is a economical one. Why don't they just own up.
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923 posts
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Post by Snciole on Sept 8, 2016 14:39:55 GMT
I eventually managed to get in and book but what a palaver i also got arsey with their social media people, particularly when they claimed this was due to "exceptional demand" - pointed out this happens every time and so it's not exceptional! Just ridiculous and as you point out every other theatre seems to have sorted this with a queuing system It is completely irrelevant whether members are priority booking or general public booking a week later, it still breaks. The system is not fit for purpose and it is clear Almeida haven't and won't make fixing it a priority.
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5,495 posts
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Post by Baemax on Sept 8, 2016 14:51:23 GMT
It's sort of similar to how the whole country grinds to a halt whenever it snows, if you think about it. Yes, it's annoying, and there are other theatres/countries who deal with it much better, but in the greater scheme of things, it's only a few days a year, and with a finite amount of funds available, I can see why they'd rather invest in things that are rather more all-year-round than the booking system which is reasonably sufficient the rest of the year round.
Of course I am musing this from my comfortable vantage point of having had tickets sorted before this morning's drama commenced...
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21 posts
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Post by Angram on Sept 8, 2016 15:41:12 GMT
Having read all the comments about the Almeida booking system, and being mildly interested (but not desperate) to see this, I thought to myself, just how bad can it really be ("Theatreboard doth protest too much methinks"...), so about an hour ago I gave it a whirl. How could I doubt you all - it's so painfully S L O W and leaves you hanging there wondering whether it's doing anything, or should you refresh, or just give up. But eventually I did get a ticket, the whole process took about 40 minutes which admittedly included setting up & activating my account. Not a lot of choice, even for one seat at a matinee, but at £18 for my partially restricted view (J21) I'm thinking it must be pretty good value. Will be my first visit to the Almeida.
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5,495 posts
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Post by Baemax on Sept 8, 2016 17:03:50 GMT
That's true! It's a pain in the arse for us to use, but at the end of the day it does the job, so as long as they can ignore our shouting, why should they change it?
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Sept 8, 2016 17:31:15 GMT
I filled in their survey to say the reason I didn't book for Drink it in the Congo was their crappy website
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1,465 posts
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Post by foxa on Sept 8, 2016 19:00:35 GMT
I got one of the surveys saying I'd been selected because I'd booked for other things but not They Drink It in the Congo. But I DID book and see They Drink It in the Congo. Maybe they realised I wished I hadn't.
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959 posts
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Post by nash16 on Sept 8, 2016 20:24:13 GMT
Jessica Brown Findlay and Luke Thompson. It'll be pretty, anyway. He's cast his girlfriend AGAIN?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2016 20:32:20 GMT
Found my basket again so got the £10 seats I wanted (or rather, the ones I had to take because my first choice left one seat going begging) but like Jasmine it took AGES to run the payment process. Still, got there in the end. Good luck everyone still struggling! And thank you for getting me a ticket, you have the knack. We should be thanking the Monkey really - I did his trick of popping tickets in the basket about 9.45am and paying at 10. Aside from the heart attack the system gave me by then refusing to show the basket for a terrifying few minutes, it went far better than any other attempt I've made to book at the Almeida.
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4,028 posts
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Post by kathryn on Sept 8, 2016 20:54:52 GMT
I filled in their survey to say the reason I didn't book for Drink it in the Congo was their crappy website Ooh, I've got one of them to fill in. I wonder how many times I can shoehorn a mention of the appalling booking system in?
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587 posts
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Post by Polly1 on Sept 8, 2016 21:23:53 GMT
I *think* I have tickets - I got as far as the confirmation page with an order ref.no, which was hopeful, just no email confirmation as yet. Monkey had better be right about the 'partially restricted view' seats in row G (but he usually is!)
I didn't realise Jessica Brown Findlay is Robert Icke's girlfriend (I assume that's what was meant above). Anyway she was very good in Uncle Vanya.
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1,008 posts
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Post by andrew on Sept 8, 2016 21:28:47 GMT
That was an absolute pain. I tried (stupidly) to do it on my phone at work, not really being able to use a computer for such nefarious purposes at that time. Gave up extremely quickly. Tried phoning and navigating the website again at 17.30, and got my ticket at 19.45. Then another 15 minutes to get Mary Stuart. I haven't really been that creative with seat choices and have just shelled out top price, hopefully it's worth it.
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Post by Jan on Sept 9, 2016 5:52:51 GMT
Jessica Brown Findlay and Luke Thompson. It'll be pretty, anyway. He's cast his girlfriend AGAIN? Why are you surprised ? This is standard practice, Antony Sher being the most egregious example. His boss at the Almeida can hardly complain as he does it too. Anyway she has been good when he's cast her so no problem.
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4,028 posts
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Post by kathryn on Sept 9, 2016 7:46:01 GMT
Didn't someone invent a word for this situation on the old board - when people cast partners/family but they actually are very good?
Was it 'nepotastic'?
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Post by emicardiff on Sept 9, 2016 8:19:35 GMT
Forgot until it was too late yesterday but did manage to snag 2 restricted view tickets for a matinee. I will solve the problem of being in London for a random Wednesday closer to the time...
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152 posts
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Post by alnoor on Sept 9, 2016 12:28:10 GMT
Lots more tickets in stalls-s-rows D and E now on sale at £60 each
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587 posts
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Post by Polly1 on Sept 9, 2016 12:30:25 GMT
I *think* I have tickets - I got as far as the confirmation page with an order ref.no, which was hopeful, just no email confirmation as yet. That happened to me too, polly1, as I said on here. Worth phoning them next week if you don't get the email, just to put your mind at rest. If you have the reference number, and they took your card, though, I think it'll be fine. Thanks, Monkey, I've emailed them - especially as, in the struggle with the appalling website, I'm actually not sure of which date I booked for I notice that they've now added a block of about 10 or so stalls seats priced at £60 for all performances up to 18th March but after that, they're shown as N/A so these must be the ones they will be releasing on 20th March.
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5,495 posts
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Post by Baemax on Sept 9, 2016 12:44:38 GMT
SIXTY POUNDS? FOR THE ALMEIDA? F*** RIGHT OFF
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587 posts
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Post by Polly1 on Sept 9, 2016 12:51:58 GMT
SIXTY POUNDS? FOR THE ALMEIDA? F*** RIGHT OFF Whoa!Don't shoot the messenger!
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