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Post by RudyGrey on May 5, 2016 9:14:54 GMT
I was able to book our two tickets right at 10am, but haven't been able to access their system since… Fingers crossed that I won't have to start all over again now!
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Post by foxa on May 5, 2016 9:22:35 GMT
I still can't get on. When I finally get to the website it just buffers and then I get, after a long wait, a message telling me to try again later.
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Post by scotty8692 on May 5, 2016 9:30:35 GMT
Same here Foxa-been online since 9.30, got the message at first, then between the site failing to load, the message coming up again, and then the buffering and failing to load again, I've not been able to get on.
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Post by David J on May 5, 2016 9:31:33 GMT
Finally got through
I took the plunge and got £10 seats in row f behind a pillar
I personally think the intimacy of theatres like the Almeida negates the fact that you've got to look round a pillar
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Post by foxa on May 5, 2016 9:32:01 GMT
I've been trying since 10 and still not done it. I'm finally have a page up but it's still buffering and then times out.
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Post by scotty8692 on May 5, 2016 9:35:42 GMT
I've got the page up too, but whenever I go to log in, I just get the message up again. Sigh! At this rate, I will take whatever I can get. The frustrating thing is I only need the one ticket and I can probably only go to the play on a certain date at the end of July too.
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Post by foxa on May 5, 2016 9:41:22 GMT
They've tweeted to be patient that the phone line and website are working. But, yes, sigh.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2016 9:42:11 GMT
In my experience, the website is always awful at this time, but it's awful for EVERYONE. Come back after 4pm, it'll be a much smoother experience and you'll be surprised how many seats are left considering how busy the website and phone lines have been.
And it's only friends booking day. *shivers*
Row F pillar seats are great, by the by. One of them is hardly restricted view at all, and the pillars are so narrow that it takes a very specific sort of staging for them to be a problem for the others.
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Post by RudyGrey on May 5, 2016 9:43:04 GMT
I took the plunge and got £10 seats in row f behind a pillar I personally think the intimacy of theatres like the Almeida negates the fact that you've got to look round a pillar Should be no problem: the Almeida pillars are very slender, so their £10 pillar seats are a perfect bargain. Indeed, at the rate the sale is going, just grab what seat you can get now. It's clear it won't be difficult to put a ticket back up for re-sale, should you wish. Good luck to all of you!
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Post by scotty8692 on May 5, 2016 9:47:43 GMT
Thanks for the advice Baemax-might go away at some stage and come back to it, but I have the luxury of not having work or much to do today so I can sit online for an age! The busy phone lines and the website faltering probably makes it seem busier than it is. I'm just worried if I get through on the phone lines whether they will have record of me having my friends membership-I contacted the Almeida who said it would let me access the booking online but didn't mention about over the phone. I haven't got my membership details in the post. Thanks for the advice on the seats, I thought I would have the good fortune to have a good choice of seats, but again, at this stage, will take anything for the night of the performance I can attend!
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Post by Mr Crummles on May 5, 2016 11:01:06 GMT
I finally managed to get my ticket. After one hour and forty-five minutes of refreshing screens in different browsers. Very nerve-wracking. I think it's gone more quiet now.
I had no difficulty getting the seat I wanted. So maybe the Almeida site just can't handle more than ten people booking at the same time.
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Post by foxa on May 5, 2016 11:04:02 GMT
Two hours and I haven't. I wonder if I should try a different browser.
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Post by jason71 on May 5, 2016 11:06:05 GMT
Booking for non members opens in seven days time. Non members should not bother to try to get tickets
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Post by scotty8692 on May 5, 2016 11:10:21 GMT
Finally got a seat-F20. The restricted view seats were available to me in F19 and F18 were available. I wonder would I have been better getting one of those instead of my £38 ticket as it appears from the seating plan on their website that I will still have to look past the pillar in row E if I want to see the other side of the stage?
Sorry to hear you're still having trouble foxa-didn't think I was going to be successful, keep trying!
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Post by RudyGrey on May 5, 2016 11:27:14 GMT
Finally got a seat-F20. The restricted view seats were available to me in F19 and F18 were available. I wonder would I have been better getting one of those instead of my £38 ticket as it appears from the seating plan on their website that I will still have to look past the pillar in row E if I want to see the other side of the stage? F19 is one of my favourite bargains, because it has no notable sightline restrictions. So yes, one might wonder what justifies the £38 vs £10 price difference? Then again, the Almeida's annoying "no single seat policy" often makes it difficult to book those £10 seats online. So you could ring the Box Office and ask for an exchange (they can manually override the single seat rule), but at the rate today's bookings are going, it won't be easy to get through by phone... So, personally, I'd stick with F20: a good seat for a fair price, compared to West End theatres.
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Post by scotty8692 on May 5, 2016 11:58:04 GMT
Thanks Rudy! I'll probably stick then-£38 is still a bargain compared to West End theatres, as I thought myself, and you quite rightly point out too. I see the booking system is playing up again so not even able to see if those two seats are still left. Those were the only 3 seats left in that row AFAIK so if I booked F19, I would have indeed been leaving a single seat on both sides. I'll think about it anyway, and if I still feel I'm missing out later, not having booked the £10 seat, I will give them a call. It's also the thrill of being able to say I saw Fiennes and Redgrave for £10...how much can you get for £10 nowadays?
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Post by Mr Crummles on May 5, 2016 12:02:22 GMT
Two hours and I haven't. I wonder if I should try a different browser. Yes, I would try with different browsers. And keep trying from all of them.
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Post by profquatermass on May 5, 2016 12:58:29 GMT
Took me ages and there was a panic when it wouldn't admit I was a member and I had to log in again. Managed it and there were a fair amount of tickets left (ie about half on the one day I looked) so don't worry too much if you can't get in until this evening. I doubt there'll be much left for the public though unless they're holding some back
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Post by jason71 on May 5, 2016 14:41:19 GMT
Day seats will be available from 15th June
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Post by Steve on May 5, 2016 17:27:10 GMT
I doubt there'll be much left for the public though unless they're holding some back I'm only guessing, but I think they do hold some back. I've never missed out if I booked in the first hour or two of general booking, and that includes for hyped popular productions like "American Psycho" with Matt Smith and "The Fever," with Tobias Menzies in that tiny hotel room.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2016 18:09:33 GMT
Hahaha! "Tiny hotel room" indeed!
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Post by profquatermass on May 5, 2016 18:15:16 GMT
At the moment most performances have c25 seats left. But they may well hold some back. It's going to be pretty chaotic though, judging by their inability to cope with members. American Psycho was a bit different wasn't it - IIRC booking opened before Matt Smith was announced?
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2016 18:28:58 GMT
Yep, American Psycho hadn't completely sold out by the time they announced Matt Smith, but it was well on the way.
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on May 5, 2016 19:34:15 GMT
It is ridiculous that their website always completely falls over whenever booking opens. Pretty much every other theatre has managed to implement the queueing systems that avoid this.
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Post by Honoured Guest on May 5, 2016 21:14:17 GMT
Yep, American Psycho hadn't completely sold out by the time they announced Matt Smith, but it was well on the way. Yes, "well on the way" after general booking had been open for several months! Which is a little longer than "the first hour or two".
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Post by Steve on May 5, 2016 22:35:38 GMT
Hahaha! "Tiny hotel room" indeed! I choked on my crisps laughing when I read that. What I meant was the bedroom, not the big suite. The whole audience had to pack in that one claustrophobic room, so there couldn't be that many of them.
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Post by vickster51 on May 6, 2016 11:13:43 GMT
I always find the Almeida site frustrating (the single seat policy, the lack of the number of the seat coming up when you click on it and just the general functionality), but it is always worse on booking days and yesterday seemed particularly bad.
Managed one ticket and then gave up. Went on again today to get one for a friend and see that almost every date has limited availability and the ones left are almost entirely £10 and £18 ones (which for people on here savvy to a bargain is no bad thing).
I'm assuming Fiennes will be a bigger pull than Andrew Scott meaning the Sept booking will be less painful, but maybe I'm being naïve!
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Post by n1david on May 6, 2016 11:39:31 GMT
I'm assuming Fiennes will be a bigger pull than Andrew Scott meaning the Sept booking will be less painful, but maybe I'm being naïve! Must admit I'm thinking the opposite - Scott has the Sherlock fanbase and Hamlet is a more iconic role than R3 to many people - I'm expecting it will be worse. (Yes, my glass is half empty...)
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Post by profquatermass on May 6, 2016 13:02:06 GMT
I guess as many people are interested in Vanessa as Ralph - I doubt she's going to make that many more stage appearances.
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2016 13:22:30 GMT
Also it currently looks like Hamlet is going on sale on its own whereas some people - though granted almost certainly a not-very-sizeable minority - will also have been booking They Drink It In The Congo and Oil along with Richard, which could have put an extra bit of drag on the server what with extra webpages having to be loaded. I personally find Scott a bigger draw than Fiennes, and Hamlet is a more popular play than Richard III, but on the other hand, I do have to remind myself that Ralph Fiennes is still an international movie star, and Richard III is a more fun play, sooo... hell, it could go either way. The tipping point may end up being Vanessa Redgrave vs Juliet Stephenson, in which case Hamlet may be less of a trauma than we may be expecting by the time it goes on sale.
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