Ian McKellen with Shakespeare, Tolkien, Others & You

£95 when I looked (additional £30 if you want him to pose for a selfie with you) - I've also decided I can live without it.

bit of a swindle they way they did this with an optional donation with no easy way of opting out of it, hardly optional then

Looks like you can opt out or change the donation if you book by phone


Same as the wording on the National Theatre memberships - done this way so they can get the gift aid benefits. 

But good luck to them to be honest and good on Sir Ian - it's an inventive way to raise funds  - should be approx £100,000 + gift aid if everyone donates £60. 

To be fair to them there are 10 X £10 day seats each day to book by phone or on line, first come first served! Haha!

Hmm. A bit pricey and tbh he could probably donate the equivalent of the takings from his own pocket, following his film success!

Or maybe he doesn't earn as much as people expect he does? Or maybe he does give away his own money as well as fundraising? I think Sir Ian's charity work speaks for itself personally. His involvement with Stonewall should be applauded for example as far as I am concerned.

Though personally I won't be forking out (with travel as well it's just too pricey) I applaud the Park and Sir Ian for their fundraising efforts. Times are hard, public funding is scarce and if the combination of a celebrity name attached and the revenue generated will give them a big financial boost.

I'd argue that this is a better approach than Sir Ian just giving the money, because this will get people through the door and more importantly onto Development mailing lists/radars. If someone is able to fork out over £100 for an evening, well it's likely if they have a good time they can be convinced into future donations or even for the cheaper tickets, if people come have a good time attracted because they love Lord of the Rings or whatever, then they might turn into a customer etc. So while big donations are great, the longer reach development wise is probably what they're looking at as well.

I don't see why he should give money, just as I feel that those of us who can't afford it shouldn't feel obliged to attend. It is also very naive to not realise that this the approach that many theatres have or will be taking to make up for lost funds.

The issue Park has is that despite an interesting and varied programme it just isn't central enough for a lot of people. It has, like many outer London theatres, become for local people despite international names gracing the stage.

Yes, the ticket price is split between benefits and suggested donation so as to maximise the Park's net income from the event. But I don't believe they said anything remotely like what you "quote". Where was it said? Certainly not on the show-page on their website.

And they haven't asked for big donations. They've specified a set per-ticket donation and offered additional Extras for specified additional payments.

I think that with "£85 including a donation of £60", people still have exactly the same legal right to purchase the advertised benefits for £25 without paying a donation of £60. So the Park's wording is arguably more accurate than your preferred wording which is in fact misleading because it suggests that there is no option whereas a non-discretionary payment may not be treated as a donation.

I don't want to get into grammar/spelling nerd territory, but could someone please change Tolkein to Tolkien in the thread header? Just to stop this editor twitching every time she opens the forum on her phone? ;-)