Top Tips for buying tickets in the West End
The question I have been asked countless times is “how can you afford to go to the theatre so often?” And this hobby does not have to be as expensive as people perceive. As of today, I have seen sixty West End shows, and rarely do I pay more than £25-£30 for a ticket. Being restricted to a student budget, here are the tips and secrets to get the best deals on West End tickets.
Todaytix
Of all tickets websites, this often has the best deals and has enabled to me to find many a bargain. There are a number of ways this website releases tickets extremely cheap, as are listed below.
Todaytix lotteries: If you live in close proximity to London, and the thought of the spontaneity of entering a daily lottery for tickets isn’t daunting, Todaytix lotteries are excellent value for money. You find out whether you have won the tickets four hours before the performance begins and, you only pay if you win! With this lottery I have won £15 front row tickets to Dreamgirls twice, and £20 front row tickets to Kinky Boots. It is much easier to win than you expect and I have actually been forced to turn down tickets after realising I could no longer make the performance. Entering these mid-week gives you the best chance of winning. At the moment, Todaytix has front row lotteries for the musical Everybody’s Talking about Jamie and the play The Lehman Trilogy.
Todaytix Sales: Every now and again, Todaytix will simply have a sale for a show and will release a vast number of £15 tickets for any particular show. Having notifications turned on and your email linked to the website means that you will never miss a quick-sale which lasts around a day. The latest show I went to was The Light in the Piazza where many seats were released for this low price. Unfortunately, being at University in York, I could not take advantage of this based on the dates. However, the quick-sales are frequent and last September I bagged £15 seats in the Dress Circle for 42nd Street. And, often, these quick-sales are across a number of shows meaning that back in March, I was able to get both £25 Aladdin tickets and £15 Come From Away tickets. Another great tool is to watch out for Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales on Todaytix. A cross-site sale meant that in one day alone I was able to book tickets for Company, The Woman in Black, 42nd Street and Dreamgirls ranging from £12.50-£20 tickets.
Todaytix Rush Tickets: Similar to the Todaytix lotteries, you enter on the same day as the performance at 10am — be quick because tickets go quick! The majority of these rush tickets are around the £25 mark and, because the theatre tends to be selling off unsold seats, the seats are often extremely good. A couple of weeks ago I took advantage of this and went to see Fiddler On the Roof. For only £25, I got myself a seat in the Dress Circle. There are many different Rush Ticket offers on the website at the moment including: Come From Away, Fiddler on the Roof, Waitress, On Your Feet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, The Starry Messenger, 9 to 5, Rosmersholm, Orpheus Descending and Sweat. However, these change very often so it’s worth checking (don’t assume this information is completely correct upon reading). When I return from University for the summer, I will most certainly be taking advantage of these Rush Tickets on a regular basis.
Check out the website at: https://www.todaytix.com/x/london/shows
Box office and Day Seats
This is a method which, although I know it to be very effective in sourcing cheap tickets, I cannot say I have done myself. When approaching the Box Office of a theatre in person on the day of the performance, keep in mind that the theatre would much rather sell off their seats at a lower price than leave them empty! For example, when going to Come From Away the second time around, I heard a couple be offered £25 tickets half an hour before the show. I can’t quite remember where the seats were but I think they were decent for the price and better value for money than what I paid (even if I did only pay £15 to sit in the Grand Circle). Day Seating is also a popular choice for many who live in and around London where you get in line at the Box Office at 10am to book for that same day. Some current notable offers are: £10 standing room tickets for Come From Away, £25 day tickets for The Lion King (amazingly cheap when you consider how expensive normal tickets are!) and £5 (yes — £5!) tickets to Matilda on selected performances if you are aged between 16 and 25 and take a valid form of ID. Not only this but, like Todaytix, The Book of Mormon, runs a £10 lottery in person to sell off their day seats and, although there is no guarantee in winning, there is no harm trying — especially for a show which is typically quite expensive.
TKTS Booth: Leicester Square
This, again, is meant for those who can be in London last minute and can feasibly book on the day of the performance. Opening at 10am, the TKTS Booth in Leicester Square sells off many tickets cheaply on the day. However, it is good to be wary with this as, being in Leicester Square, it is possible that the booth could inevitably endeavour to take advantage of tourists in the area. But, this doesn’t mean there aren’t cheap seats available! In fact, I bagged £25 seats in the Grand Circle for Kinky Boots here last year. Admittedly, I have only used this method once and tend to use Todaytix more (considering it is easier to use online, there is more choice of shows and is often cheaper) yet it is a viable option. The appealing part here is that you can use Theatre Tokens at this booth (which I did for Kinky Boots) which can only be used elsewhere over the phone.
Seatplan
As well as being a method to check what the view from your seat in the theatre will be like, Seatplan also sells tickets at often reduced prices. Usually on weekdays, Seatplan has offers which has meant that I have previously been able to secure £25 42nd Street and £25 School of Rock tickets. Once again, it is often difficult to find offers on weekends however it is worth checking to see what the website has to offer!
Check out the website at: https://seatplan.com/
Student Discount
It is rare you are able to find specifically student discounted tickets however there are ways to take advantage of your student status for some productions. As aforementioned, Matilda offers a limited number of £5 Day Seats, released at 10am, on select performances for those aged between 16 and 25. And, with the Royal Shakespeare Company (which runs Matilda), if you are signed up with them as a student then you can also access a number of £5 tickets to different shows run by the company, mostly Shakespeare, across both London and Stratford-Upon-Avon. But, this isn’t all. Studentbeans runs a section on their website, linked to Lovetheatre.com where students can find discounted theatre tickets with a valid login. However, I do admit that I have never found particularly good deals here. Lastly, you can sign up to the National Theatre as a student and get £7.50 entry to lots of shows. The most recent example of this was the ability to bag £7.50 student tickets to Follies at the National Theatre.
Check out the following websites:
Encore Tickets
For coherence, I would like to add that when I originally used this site for the first term it was called discounttheatre.com and was then, I assume, incorporated into Encore Tickets as a company. It is actually rare I have been able to find exceptional deals here but nevertheless some reasonably priced seats are often available. If you wish to book in advance, which Todaytix and the TKTS Booth don’t focus on as such, Encore Tickets is a website which offers fairly priced tickets. But, it is important to say that these deals are most often on weekdays and it is rare that exceptionally cheap tickets can be found on weekends. This is even the case in the summer, holidays so going to the theatre with children needn’t be expensive. I did spot tickets on Encore Tickets a few weeks ago for 9 to 5 in the front of the Grand Circle for around £23 (much cheaper than other websites offer) however this was around a week before and was also for a Tuesday or Wednesday. Encore Tickets can also offer cheap tickets for previews of shows (before opening night) so this is also something to look out for if there is an upcoming show you are desperate to see. Back in 2017, I got £20 seats in the second row of the stalls for 42nd Street during the previews on what was, then, discounttheatre.com.
Check out the website at: https://www.encoretickets.co.uk/
Previews
As mentioned, previews are a great way to find cheap seats. As soon as a show is announced and they release tickets, you will find that shows before a certain date will be much cheaper and this is because they are before the official opening night. However, with West End shows being extremely well-rehearsed, this does not affect the performance in the slightest and, for the theatre geek that I am, it is exciting to see shows before anybody else has the opportunity! I did this with the highly anticipated Come From Away which I had been waiting for years to see, Waitress which I was able to see only a week after it first opened to audiences and 42nd Street in 2017. For Come From Away booking in advance came in handy as I booked eight months before seeing the show and only paid £15, for Waitress I booked four months before and paid £30 and for 42nd Street I booked one month before and paid £20. Previews are a perfect way to see brand new theatre productions and not at extortionate prices.
I hope this has given a valuable insight into where to find cheap West End tickets and has proven that theatre really doesn’t have to be expensive!
Rachel Tatam
