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Post by joem on Oct 26, 2016 22:16:04 GMT
Is it time that someone should demand more transparency on this? Practically every West End theatre is charging this now but is the money only spent on restoration? And once the theatre is restored shouldnt the levy cease until the next restoration - surely decades down the line - is required?
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 26, 2016 23:28:44 GMT
Sorry to appear tight but any booking website asking me to donate to ANYthing gets a firm "no".
I'm supporting the theatre by patronising it. I think asking for charitable donations as you're buying your rather expensive tickets is a bloody cheek.
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Post by Phantom of London on Oct 26, 2016 23:37:50 GMT
Don't get me started when they ask for you to remember them in your will.
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Post by theatre-turtle on Oct 27, 2016 1:02:45 GMT
I wonder if there's a tax reason/deduction for allocating it to restoration?
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Post by Jon on Oct 27, 2016 2:02:24 GMT
Whenever I get a cheap ticket from say Hampstead or the BFI, I do donate £1 or £2 extra because I want to support those institutions and with places like the National, Donmar etc they are subsided but subsidy and ticket sales can only go so far hence why they ask for donations and without people being generous, tickets prices likely would be in line with commercial theatres and the programming would suffer.
I don't mind the small restoration levy because as we've seen with Delfont Mackintosh and to a lesser extent ATG that the money does back into the theatres. Also these theatres need to maintained and I suspect that the levy does contribute to that
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2016 5:14:23 GMT
Don't get me started when they ask for you to remember them in your will. "And to the — Theatre I leave this sack of crap as, to judge by their artistic policy, many others have before me." |
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Post by schuttep on Oct 27, 2016 9:40:44 GMT
Sorry to appear tight but any booking website asking me to donate to ANYthing gets a firm "no". I'm supporting the theatre by patronising it. I think asking for charitable donations as you're buying your rather expensive tickets is a bloody cheek. I'm not aware that the Theatre Restoration fee is voluntary. If donations are voluntary, I say no because I go to the theatre 100 times a year and spend enough, but this levy is often just printed at the bottom of the ticket after you receive it. Some theatre owners do do restoration work, though - I'm looking at you Nimax and Delfont Mackintosh - and I guess restoration is not a once and for all thing: it's ongoing. for example, decorating bars, updating toilets etc. So that's why it's a regular charge. And it's transparent to the extent that they haven't included it in the price of the ticket. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2016 10:40:27 GMT
I've always noticed Cam Mac's theatres actually restoring (and for a while putting helpful notes on things like toilets saying they were in the process of restoring) For the not for profit ones, I admit it depends on my feeling towards the theatre, for a cheap ticket somewhere I'm fond of if I have the spare cash I will give it to them. If it's somewhere big that's either annoyed me or is already charging me a fortune (cough WMC cough) then I don't.
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Post by Phantom of London on Oct 27, 2016 11:00:14 GMT
Look at the Cambridge theatre that has had successful shows and does collect a restoration fee, although they collect this windfall - money seems not to be spent on a overhaul, A trip in the gents bathroom and you notice that ashtrays are still fitted by the urinal into the wall, even though a smoking ban has been in force for 10 years now and voluntary one in theatre, for a lot longer, so these theatre hasn't been modernised in over 20 years.
Looking at the tiling in the said toilet they are the cheapest and tackiest white tiles possible, with the cheapest and tackiest floor lining and the cheapest and tackiest hand driers from the RS catalogue, that has no power, not like a modern Dyson.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2016 11:11:04 GMT
The presence of ashtrays doesn't mean the place has never been overhauled, they might just like having them around. The Royal Court, for instance, has patches that look unfinished, but they've been left purposefully like that so you can see tiny glimpses of what it used to look like. If I were overhauling toilets, I'd be installing more facilities for ladies and making sure the plumbing is solid, not faffing about with ashtrays!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2016 11:21:30 GMT
If they called it a Toilet Restoration Fund I'm sure it would be far more popular, given that there are some theatres where it feels like you've stepped back into the days of open sewers.
(The fact that so many discussions turn into complaints about toilets shows how much of a problem it is. It's our version of the cat story.)
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2016 17:20:24 GMT
If it's somewhere big that's either annoyed me or is already charging me a fortune (cough WMC cough) then I don't. Ha! WMC is the one local arts organisation to which I would never donate a penny. It's so big that it's always easy to think of some of its actions which I disagree with! |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2016 18:34:14 GMT
If it's somewhere big that's either annoyed me or is already charging me a fortune (cough WMC cough) then I don't. Ha! WMC is the one local arts organisation to which I would never donate a penny. It's so big that it's always easy to think of some of its actions which I disagree with! Same! And I could list MANY a thing I disagree with. And they get/charge quite enough money as it is... Speaking of local ones, the New in Cardiff did very visably put their restoration levy to use with the renovation of the upper circle, which is now fit for human inhabitants at least! |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 27, 2016 21:33:33 GMT
What gets me is that Cam Mack is a dollar billionaire and we're expected to pay for him to refurb his money making machines? How does that work out?
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Post by duncan on Oct 28, 2016 7:08:23 GMT
Because we are mugs.
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Post by Jan on Oct 28, 2016 8:41:13 GMT
I wonder if there's a tax reason/deduction for allocating it to restoration? I think in general there isn't a tax reason, shysters like ATG just collect it as an addition to the ticket price, like their absurd booking fee, and it is taxed (or not) similarly - they provide no accounts or documentation at all to show what they have spent it on. In some circumstances, mostly in the subsidised sector, some of these surcharges are funnelled into a charitable trust where the tax situation is different but that does not seem common in the commercial sector. BA are missing a trick here, they should add a £10 "aircraft maintenance fee" to their plane tickets. |
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Post by lynette on Oct 28, 2016 14:29:11 GMT
What gets me is that Cam Mack is a dollar billionaire and we're expected to pay for him to refurb his money making machines? How does that work out? I don't pay extra if I have the choice not to. I think the ticket price should be the commercial price and doing up theatres is for their owners to do. But the subsidied theatres a bit different...I do support the National and a few others. Mind you I do wonder where the money goes when I see so called improvements to the NT ground floor. Is that a building fund separate from the arts subsidies or is it all one pot? |
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Post by Jan on Oct 28, 2016 19:14:37 GMT
It could well be a tax thing, Jan Brock, in that if they can show that specific cash is being used for historic building restoration, they do get a VAT break on the costs, if I remember correctly and it hasn't been axed? That used to be the case but I believe the concession was removed in 2012. I may be wrong. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2016 8:41:06 GMT
Doesn't a separate restoration levy (as opposed to increasing the ticket prices by the same amount) have the effect of reducing the show's profits so that the producers can pay out less to the investors and retain more for maintaining their theatres?
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