By Grace Hatchell
I was looking at tickets for a theatre show I wanted to see but the stalls prices: £50 to £90 per seat. Per seat! At £90, I’d expect the interval ice cream to arrive with its own tiny orchestra.
Of course, there were cheaper seats in the gallery. I’m glad they exist. But “there are affordable tickets” feels like a thin answer when a family’s budget decides they must watch from somewhere near the lighting rig. A parent bringing two children could be looking at £150 before they’ve paid for travel or a snack. For many families, that ends the outing before anyone has chosen a date.
Theatre should be open to all. That means more than making sure the cheapest seat technically exists. It means giving families a reasonable choice of where to sit and a fair chance to see the stage without turning ticket booking into a test of their bank balance.
I know productions cost money. Artists, technicians, front of house staff and everyone behind the scenes deserve to be paid properly. The answer cannot be to make creative workers carry the cost of cheaper tickets. But theatres, producers and funders can look harder at who gets access to the seats people actually want.
Why not reserve a meaningful number of affordable stalls seats for every performance? Why not offer family prices that are easy to find, without making parents solve a puzzle at checkout? Schools and youth groups help children discover theatre, but families need a way to keep that interest alive outside a school trip. Funders could ask venues to show how their pricing reaches local people, while venues could publish clear figures on how many affordable seats they offer and where those seats are.
And please, make the full price clear from the start. By the time a booking fee appears, I’ve already imagined the evening, picked my seat and mentally bought a programme. It’s a little late to discover the ticket has brought a friend.
A child sitting close enough to see an actor’s expression might remember that moment for years. They might want to perform, write, design costumes or simply come back next month. Families shouldn’t have to be wealthy to give them that experience.
If we believe theatre matters, its pricing has to reflect that belief. Put affordable seats throughout the auditorium. Make family offers genuinely useful. Show audiences what’s changing. The next generation of theatre lovers is ready to come in; we need to make room for them somewhere other than the Gods.
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