Theatre-goers are having to splash out on tickets to West Finish productions as celebrities similar to Tom Holland and Cara Delevinge take to the stage.
Prime-price tickets to musicals and performs in London have risen by 9.3 per cent since 2023, The Stage’s annual ticketing survey revealed right now.
The attention-watering value for some performs has even damaged the £200 mark for the primary time within the survey’s historical past.
These trying to splurge on the most costly play ticket on the West Finish ought to see Spider-Man hunk Tom Holland within the new play Romeo and Juliet.
The ‘pulsating new imaginative and prescient of Shakespeare’s immortal traditional’ has divided critics and a single ticket will set you again £298.
For musicals, the most costly seat is one on the Playhouse Theatre to look at mannequin Cara Delevinge in Cabaret for £303.
A ticket to see Spider-Man hunk Tom Holland (pictured) in Romeo and Juliet will set you again round £298
Different well-known faces who’ve graced the West Finish stage this 12 months embrace Dominic West, Sarah Jessica Parker and Sir Ian McKellan.
Documentary maker Stacey Dooley may even make her West Finish debut as Jenny in 2:22: A Ghost Story.
However as followers flock to see their favorite on-screen stars take to the stage, ticket costs soar attributable to demand.
When Hollywood heartthrob Tom Holland introduced he could be enjoying star-crossed lover Romeo Montague, greater than 60,000 frenzied followers scrambled to purchase tickets for his West Finish run.
Tickets offered out in lower than two hours and at the moment are on resale for £300 every.
The Stage’s ticketing survey revealed that the most costly seats for West Finish exhibits offered for a median value of £154.56 this 12 months – a 9.3 per cent enhance on final 12 months’s determine of £141.37.
This enhance is greater than the two.3 per cent inflation charges folks have turn out to be used to over the previous 12 months.
These trying to purchase the priciest tickets to see a play in London have been spending 50 per cent extra on common – up from £94.45 in 2023 to £141.61 in 2024.
For musicals, the most costly seat is one on the Playhouse Theatre to look at mannequin Cara Delevinge (pictured) in Cabaret for £303
Dominic West (left) stars in Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge
Sarah Jessica Parker bows on the efficiency of Plaza Suite at The Savoy Theatre
Documentary maker Stacey Dooley may even make her West Finish debut as Jenny in 2:22: A Ghost Story.
However it isn’t all unhealthy information for avid theatre-goers.
This 12 months the typical most cost-effective ticket value £24.58 – a 3.4 per cent lower in comparison with £25.44 in 2023.
Reacting to the statistics, Society of London Theatre president Eleanor Lloyd stated: ‘Regardless of the rising value of theatre productions, theatre works arduous to supply reasonably priced tickets to encourage a vibrant theatre-going group.’
Lloyd argued that dearer tickets fund entry schemes which assist theatre ‘attain new and numerous audiences’.
She stated: ‘Virtually 1 / 4 of the tickets offered within the West Finish final 12 months have been for beneath £30, and simply 13% have been purchased for greater than £100.
‘That is delivered within the context of producers and venues dealing with rising prices, with members experiencing a 120% rise in utility payments since 2019, for instance.
‘Regardless of these monetary challenges, value will increase haven’t been handed on to audiences, with common ticket costs solely rising by half the speed of inflation since earlier than the pandemic.’
These trying to save cash flocked to Heathers at Soho Place which had the most cost effective ticket of any West Finish musical at £15.
Producers Invoice Kenwright and Paul Taylor-Mills advised The Stage: ‘Balancing prices on West Finish exhibits is more and more arduous however accessibility of pricing, notably on a present like Heathers, is important.
‘With so many younger adults and returning followers to cater for, we’re delighted to supply £15 tickets at each efficiency of Heathers at @sohoplace, with a spread of costs as much as a high value of simply £89.50 at some performances.’
Different exhibits supply ‘rush tickets’ which could be bought on-the-day of the efficiency for cheaper costs.
Musicals, similar to Hadestown, which has just lately transferred to the West Finish from Broadway, host a every day lottery the place fortunate theatre followers are supplied tickets within the stalls for as little as £30 every.
These trying to save cash flocked to Heathers (pictured) at Soho Place which had the most cost effective ticket of any West Finish musical at £15
Grace Hodgett-Younger (left) and Donal Finn (proper) star as Eurydice and Orpheus respectively in Hadestown on the Lyric Theatre
John Cleese poses with the forged of Fawlty Towers: The Play
Cash-savvy viewers members additionally had loads of choices for affordable performs with 5 productions tying for the least costly ticket in 2024.
Bluets at Royal Court docket Theatre, The Secret Backyard at Regent’s Open Air Theatre, Fawlty Towers: the Play on the Apollo Theatre, Harry Potter and the Cursed Youngster on the Palace Theatre and A View From the Bridge at Theatre Royal Haymarket all supplied tickets priced at £15.
