Does audience loyalty count for anything in theatre?

I was a member of some theatres I used to go to regularly in Liverpool and Manchester, the main draws being exclusive updates on season announcements and early booking. It was something I’d look forward to, especially if it meant taking advantage of any multibuy or season ticket offers.

But you’d also get newsletters about the charity/community element, the odd building tour or chance to sit in on rehearsals, which was always nice. It does feel like you’re giving back in some small way to a place that brings you joy.

Then the coronavirus came along.

A local theatre, which I’m also a member of, managed to send an email for every show booked. You clicked a link, it opened a webpage asking if you wanted to donate, receive credit, or have a refund. Nice and easy.

All three organisations used the same booking system. Took months to get my money back from the other two though, with a different excuse given every time for the lack of refunds. Nearly four years on (!) and tbh I’m still a tiny bit resentful about it.

I think I've visited them a combined total of four times since then. In the past I’d have been maybe 2-3 times a month. Cancelled both memberships.

So I get where you’re coming from. You do feel taken for granted, especially if you make the mistake of buying into the ‘valued customer’ schtick (like I did.) I am happy to say I’m still a member of the local theatre though.

I gave up my NT memberships (had upgraded at one point because they kept introducing new levels so the original £15 basic version was no longer much use) when I learned that they still held back seats for public booking day. My assumption, and I think that of most members of the public, was that those with paid memberships would have access to all available seats on the day booking went live for their particular membership level - even though perversely, that would mean those able to pay for the most expensive membership would then have first access to the cheapest seats. But no: it turns out that without mentioning this, the NT holds back some seats for public booking, in which case, I think they are not being open and honest - and that it's not worth paying for earlier access to a reduced number of seats.

When the Membership department admitted this in an email to me, their argument was that as a publicly-funded organisation, they had a duty to provide access to all, including by offering affordable seats. Absolutely fine - but be upfront about this with your paying members, so they can make an informed decision about whether to fork out.

Of course, and that’s why it should be purely transactional with those theatres, you pay for membership and they give you early access to the best seats without holding them back for non-members. I’ve long suspected the Almeida of offloading poor seats on the membership too.

You mean Amex I assume, or have I missed a NT/Mastercard link somewhere?

Donmar is the only one I bother with now, and even that has eroded in value over the years.

The issue at the Donmar used to be that they simply had so many advance ticket schemes and membership levels and rush ticket and day ticket options that each scheme didn't have all that many tickets allocated to it so I agree that you never got access to all the best seats irrespective of what scheme you were in.  I always thought that wasn't quite as unethical as the Almeida situation where members got to book all those restricted view seats and then magically at some later date they'd "release" another bunch of better seats for general booking - I've booked front row seats there for popular plays on the day public booking opened. 


I recommend the Orange Tree membership scheme - you get a personally signed Xmas card from Tom Littler. Jermyn Street do that too.  

It came through the post. Here you go, print it out, fill your name in, job done.