Rant/question about running times

I fully agree we don't need the exact time but a ballpark time or a minimum time would be helpful. I get with a full or near full house there could be a slight delay starting or the interval can take longer with loo queues etc. Also when a show is in preview times can change but maybe overall be cautious and if we get out a bit earlier it is better than being later if taxis/ubers have been pre-booked, you have buses/trains to catch or car is on a meter.

If it was Les Mis or the late great Sir Ken Dodd we know/knew it would be a late evening and plan for it. But if the finish is advertised at say 9:45pm and if there weren't any technical issues or other major delays we could reasonably expect to be ready to leave by no later than say 9:50pm if finish is going to be say 9:55pm then advertise a 10pm finish just to be safe if needs be.

Some theatres have exact act times like say 57 minutes or 46 minutes so they are accurately timed and not rounded up to the next 5 minute point.

We also do have to factor in if you don't have a quick exit seat it can take longer to get out, I know some people can dawdle or just stand about talking but there may be older, less mobile people getting out and they cannot hurry or shouldn't be expected to wait for others to leave. If a show is due to finish at lets say 10:00pm then if you have a train say at 10:10pm and the station is 3 to 5 mins brisk walk you would be cutting it very fine and a minor deal or two could scupper your chances. But if train was say 10:20pm and show was advertised as 10:00pm finish and ended up finishing nearer 10:15pm then I'd be miffed too.

The running times are often right but the start times frequently aren't these days so the net effect is a late finish. The Almeida are the worst of the lot, in my experience they never start at 19:30, it has been as late as 19:43. It seems to be to accommodate latecomers. Also you have to factor in lengthy curtain calls if it's someone famous and the delay in actually getting out of the theatre (15 minutes at @shohoplace).

On latecomers, at Othello @ Riverside Studios, 5 minutes before the start they came round and said that if you leave the auditorium during the production you won't be let back in. A couple of minutes later a guy dashed in and sat in the front row. 5 minutes after the start he got up and left and we didn't see him again until two hours later when he came in to collect his coat and bag. That's the sort of zero tolerance approach I like.

I always quote actual running times when I comment on a show I've been to, as I think real data points are useful.

It's poor that so many venues continue to publish shorter running times than are experienced night after night. Part of the problem is that some venues have strange ideas of what constitutes a useful figure to quote.

Take a typical example:

19:30 Advertised start time
19:33 Typical normal start time
20:33 Twenty-minute interval begins
20:56 Act 2 begins
21:56 Act 2 ends
21:58 Curtain call ends
22:00 Play-out music ends

Some theatres will simply decide it's two 60-minute acts and a 20-minute interval and therefore quote 2 hours 20 minutes running time, but that helps no-one. The only truly useful measure is the total elapsed time from the advertised start time to when the full performance is recorded as having ended each night, which is 2 hours 30 minutes in this example.

In my experience, venues that have 15-minute intervals, unless they are really low capacity, invariably run to at least 20 minutes as they wait for the queues for the ladies toilets to clear.

Oh yes, ushers are often able to give much more accurate times than the posted information. Like you say, doesn't help for advance planning but that's where real-life data gathering from websites like this comes into its own.

Previews can be tricky to plan for as directors make nightly changes. However, curious to know if there has ever been a show that got longer, rather than cut, during previews. I'm not aware of any.

Pygmalion just recently had an interval added. I don't know if they added to the play itself but certainly made the evening longer.

I'd take the end time as being when the bows are done and the house lights come back up. Musicals often have a final number after the bows as said above. In the excellent example MKB gives I'd say the finish time from that should be advertised as 10pm, if people get out a bit earlier that is a bonus.

I think a lot of the time the website advertises the show's running time before it opens and doesn't get properly updated, which means it is probably based on the running time of the show in rehearsals which doesn't necessarily allow for all the variables like audience responses/laughter/applause etc.

Added to that the general housekeeping and trying to get everyone seated by 7:30pm and again after the interval and that can add on around 5 minutes total too.

Some shows, plays in particular, can get slower over the course of their run as well. Actors start to get more comfortable and take their time with certain scenes - it all adds up! And if the director isn't around enough to keep things as tight as possible, suddenly there's another 5 to 10 minutes added on to your show.

Definitely and bar queues too as that is a huge revenue driver.