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Post by Jon on May 10, 2022 16:10:30 GMT
This is unacceptable. Marianne, Chris and Nick should be ashamed. You do know it's commercial theatre and not a charity. They're not in the business of giving out freebies. |
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Post by kathryn on May 10, 2022 16:14:48 GMT
Surely at those prices the seats will just stay empty?
I know in some cases there’s only 6 seats left, but are there really 6 people willing to pay £400 each? That’s Russian oligarch money. How many Bridgerton fans are that rich?!
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Post by Jon on May 10, 2022 16:16:46 GMT
Surely at those prices the seats will just stay empty? I know in some cases there’s only 6 seats left, but are there really 6 people willing to pay £400 each? That’s Russian oligarch money. How many Bridgerton fans are that rich?! I would imagine the prices will drop closer to the time if they've not sold, that's usually how dynamic pricing works. |
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Post by A.Ham on May 10, 2022 16:31:30 GMT
Surely at those prices the seats will just stay empty? I know in some cases there’s only 6 seats left, but are there really 6 people willing to pay £400 each? That’s Russian oligarch money. How many Bridgerton fans are that rich?! I would imagine the prices will drop closer to the time if they've not sold, that's usually how dynamic pricing works. Yes, let’s hope none sell at the crazy £400, £350, £300 prices we’ve seen and nothing shifts until at least they’re back to what we already all felt was a high price initially - even £125/£150 is too high really but I do get that people will pay that and there’s reasons for those costs. Above that though and they’re really taking the proverbial… |
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Post by justafan on May 10, 2022 16:48:44 GMT
So the ‘spokesman’ is blaming the fact that because they’ve done a lottery and £20 tickets that suddenly they have to ramp up the last weeks of shows to £400 - sounds like a cr*p business model - and I know nothing about theatre business |
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Post by Rory on May 10, 2022 17:06:19 GMT
This is unacceptable. Marianne, Chris and Nick should be ashamed. You do know it's commercial theatre and not a charity. They're not in the business of giving out freebies. Yep, I know that thanks and you never fail to make the point. Not much charity or goodwill with those prices. And £400 is not a freebie, it's a total pisstake. And it damages theatre, and their greed infuriates me. |
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 10, 2022 18:03:09 GMT
Isn’t the daily lottery literally like 4 tickets or something? There were raised eyebrows but not this outrage when all tickets (except the tiny handful of lottery or super advanced tickets) were £100 or £125. It’s a small cast play that’s relatively inexpensive to produce. They’d still make money hand over fist pricing tickets at £125, and that’s still crazy expensive. Why inflate tickets to such an obscene degree during a time when British theatre is struggling so much financially, so many theatres have had to cancel commissions and productions or cancel or reduce their studio shows, and the UK as a whole is in a financial crisis. It’s just so out of touch and like they just don’t care about their image or anything except greed. |
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Post by LaLuPone on May 10, 2022 21:55:29 GMT
Absolutely crazy prices.
I did have a look on ATG earlier out of curiosity though and they had some good seats at the front of the circle for tonight for only £40, so clearly they are dynamic pricing the other way on the day sometimes.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 10, 2022 22:37:41 GMT
Short run. World class creative team. Big name actors. Small theatre. Commercial production. Surely they are within their rights to charge whatever they want for the tickets. Basic supply and demand. 7 out of every 10 shows dont recoup. Why not make some money if you can. Sometimes it’s exasperating reading this forum. Especially as a professional. Please-we all really appreciate the passion and indeed the great knowledge of the members and your insights but please remember theatre producing is unbelievably risky. It can take 12 months of work to pull off rights/creative team/casting/investment/venue etc and of course most producers are looking to try and get 4 or 5 shows ‘off the ground’ whilst being thrilled if one out of every 5 actually comes together. This is a really good play. World class creative team. Top notch cast. Maybe let the investors and producers actually make money for a change. Sorry to quote this again but you’ll understand why. |
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Post by fiyero on May 11, 2022 8:09:23 GMT
Short run. World class creative team. Big name actors. Small theatre. Commercial production. Surely they are within their rights to charge whatever they want for the tickets. Basic supply and demand. 7 out of every 10 shows dont recoup. Why not make some money if you can. Sometimes it’s exasperating reading this forum. Especially as a professional. Please-we all really appreciate the passion and indeed the great knowledge of the members and your insights but please remember theatre producing is unbelievably risky. It can take 12 months of work to pull off rights/creative team/casting/investment/venue etc and of course most producers are looking to try and get 4 or 5 shows ‘off the ground’ whilst being thrilled if one out of every 5 actually comes together. This is a really good play. World class creative team. Top notch cast. Maybe let the investors and producers actually make money for a change. Sorry to quote this again but you’ll understand why. And there were cheaper tickets too! My friend paid £20 for a ticket. He couldn't make it in the end and kindly gave me the ticket but they did exist! |
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Post by fluxcapacitor on May 11, 2022 8:18:50 GMT
It’s a small cast play that’s relatively inexpensive to produce. They’d still make money hand over fist pricing tickets at £125, and that’s still crazy expensive. Why inflate tickets to such an obscene degree during a time when British theatre is struggling so much financially, so many theatres have had to cancel commissions and productions or cancel or reduce their studio shows, and the UK as a whole is in a financial crisis. It’s just so out of touch and like they just don’t care about their image or anything except greed. They've also lost their biggest - and most expensive - actor during the run, which makes it even more obscene since tickets to see Taron Egerton were much cheaper. Hell, most "top tier" tickets (not including the ones with optional extra £1000 donation) for the Stephen Sondheim concert - which featured a full orchestra, and tens of big names - were "only" £250!! I know that was one night, but still... As others have said though, there are quite a lot of tickets left for many performances so I can see prices dropping nearer the time. Strangely, there seem to be cheaper options (by cheaper, I mean the £150 mark) on TodayTix. Quite rare for TT to have genuine cheaper tickets for shows these days - I usually find the official website comes out on top when looking for the cheapest option. |
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Post by couldileaveyou on May 11, 2022 11:12:19 GMT
I think that more than the backlash it's the realisation that Jonathan Bailey alone is not enough to make people pay that price, but hey
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Post by n1david on May 11, 2022 11:14:08 GMT
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Post by mkb on May 11, 2022 11:23:43 GMT
Short run. World class creative team. Big name actors. Small theatre. Commercial production. Surely they are within their rights to charge whatever they want for the tickets. Basic supply and demand. 7 out of every 10 shows dont recoup. Why not make some money if you can. Sometimes it’s exasperating reading this forum. Especially as a professional. Please-we all really appreciate the passion and indeed the great knowledge of the members and your insights but please remember theatre producing is unbelievably risky. It can take 12 months of work to pull off rights/creative team/casting/investment/venue etc and of course most producers are looking to try and get 4 or 5 shows ‘off the ground’ whilst being thrilled if one out of every 5 actually comes together. This is a really good play. World class creative team. Top notch cast. Maybe let the investors and producers actually make money for a change. Sorry to quote this again but you’ll understand why. The author asks "why not make some money if you can?" arguing that producers can charge whatever the market will pay, to which my answer is because I believe in balancing personal greed with respect and fairness for others. If you are comfortable with unconstrained capitalism, you will not be bothered. Personally, I think such free-market politics are hugely damaging to the fabric of society and exclusionary. |
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Post by harry on May 11, 2022 11:27:33 GMT
I mean it’s gross, obviously. It makes all the anti scalping measures a joke, when producers decide to inflate prices like this of their own accord.
But is it wrong of me to feel extra incensed that it’s happening on a show that’s so disappointingly mediocre?
Anyway a sorry state of affairs and really sad and bad for the West End and theatre’s reputation in general.
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Post by shambles on May 11, 2022 11:31:54 GMT
Short run. World class creative team. Big name actors. Small theatre. Commercial production. Surely they are within their rights to charge whatever they want for the tickets. Basic supply and demand. 7 out of every 10 shows dont recoup. Why not make some money if you can. Sometimes it’s exasperating reading this forum. Especially as a professional. Please-we all really appreciate the passion and indeed the great knowledge of the members and your insights but please remember theatre producing is unbelievably risky. It can take 12 months of work to pull off rights/creative team/casting/investment/venue etc and of course most producers are looking to try and get 4 or 5 shows ‘off the ground’ whilst being thrilled if one out of every 5 actually comes together. This is a really good play. World class creative team. Top notch cast. Maybe let the investors and producers actually make money for a change. Sorry to quote this again but you’ll understand why. |
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Post by couldileaveyou on May 11, 2022 11:36:35 GMT
I'm pretty sure BurlyBeaR is being sarcastic and making fun of the person who tried to justify extortionate prices, since we just saw how far this way of thinking can go.
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Post by shambles on May 11, 2022 11:40:54 GMT
I'm pretty sure BurlyBeaR is being sarcastic and making fun of the person who tried to justify extortionate prices, since we just saw how far this way of thinking can go. Then I retract, as I had only felt that they were in agreement given that other people who also seem to have the same line of thinking as OP had liked the post. |
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 11, 2022 13:13:00 GMT
I respect all opinions, but the majority of people I’ve seen who are outraged about this are people working in theatre, including very well known playwrights and industry leaders. There are famous playwrights who insist that a significant percentage of tickets (not 4) are reasonably priced, or who insist that producers cap tickets at a certain top price.
It’s not a case of audience members being upset because they don’t understand how the industry works and actual industry people defending it because most of what I’ve witnessed is the opposite.
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Post by matty on May 11, 2022 13:42:18 GMT
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Post by mkb on May 11, 2022 13:55:46 GMT
Are we now supposed to think that £175 for a short four-hander is absolutely fine then?
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Post by mkb on May 11, 2022 13:56:55 GMT
Are we now supposed to think that £175 for a short four-hander is absolutely fine then? Given the play's title, I could probably have phrased that a little better! |
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Post by harry on May 11, 2022 14:17:17 GMT
I respect all opinions, but the majority of people I’ve seen who are outraged about this are people working in theatre, including very well known playwrights and industry leaders. There are famous playwrights who insist that a significant percentage of tickets (not 4) are reasonably priced, or who insist that producers cap tickets at a certain top price. It’s not a case of audience members being upset because they don’t understand how the industry works and actual industry people defending it because most of what I’ve witnessed is the opposite. I think your average punter clicks on a website, sees tickets are £400 and thinks “wow that’s a stupid amount of money” and then clicks onto something else. But it also means they say to their friend later “I wanted to see that play but theatre is so expensive, only posh rich people could afford to see it”. And then they don’t bother to even look next time something catches their eye because they have been subconsciously “told” it’s not for them. And that’s why theatremakers and workers are so narked off, because as well as making these specific people look greedy, it damages the industry as a whole. I understand that plays are really expensive to put on. And I do see from a producing point of view it seems crazy *not* to match prices to demand. And I know dynamic pricing has been around much longer than it’s been labelled as such in the form of discounts for shows with empty seats and higher prices for weekends etc. But I do believe to build peoples faith and trust in the industry and nurture the idea of theatregoing as an activity that anyone can enjoy, we should be saying “there’s a show, and we believe a ticket with a close up clear view has a value of X, and we believe you get the same high quality of show whenever in the run you come so that’s the price. And if you want to sit further back, or with a railing in the sight line then that’s a bit less. And the bonus for booking early is you get a wider choice of seats, and the penalty for booking late is they might run out. But we believe in the product and we’ve budgeted to make a bit of money should you agree with us and that’s ok” I know that’s not real life or real human nature but I can dream. |
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Post by Jon on May 11, 2022 14:43:53 GMT
It’s a tricky balance because if you price things too cheaply then it can have the opposite effect and losing money for every show is not something that is sustainable.
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Post by kathryn on May 11, 2022 16:23:52 GMT
Just to add, it takes absolutely ages to change a perception like ‘theatre is really expensive and not for working class people’ or ‘the Donmar always sells out immediately so there’s no point checking for tickets’.
The latter of those I was still hearing repeated by people in the media years after it ceased to be true. The former is still incredibly common. Eye-catching headlines about ridiculous ticket prices really do put people off!
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