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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 29, 2019 23:57:30 GMT
Not often I take my mum to the theatre, but a few years back as a mother’s day treat I took mum to see Oliver at Drury Lane.
Being the cheap Fagin I booked the second cheapest seats near the back of the stalls. However the 3 rows in front were completely empty, so one minute before start of the matinee performance I said to mum ‘we are moving,it’s alright’. So show starts, So 3 completely empty rows and if a couple or two did walk in, this one would be easy to swerve, however this didn’t happen..............a whole big school group walked in, that filled exactly 3 rows - Yeap I felt the theatre swallow me, with a mother saying ‘you go to the theatre a lot and you said it would be alright.’
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Post by wickedgrin on Apr 30, 2019 0:08:15 GMT
As I said I have never been challenged "upgrading" and if I was I would be perfectly polite and move being the gentleman I am and of course knowing I am technically in the wrong. However, I would say to the usher that it is a pity that bad behaviour (phones etc) are not dealt with by them in the same ruthless manner!!!!!
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Post by crowblack on Apr 30, 2019 9:11:29 GMT
It has a view of the stage But in many places, not if you're short. I'm the average height for a British woman but if there's an average height man in the seat in front I might as well be behind a pillar in theatres with no rake and no offset seating, but those seas are generally full stalls price.
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Post by crowblack on Apr 30, 2019 12:32:46 GMT
Modern theatres and cinemas have better rakes (no problems at Liverpool Everyman, Theatr Clwyd etc. or Cineworld, Picturehouse etc. where I feel I can happily book any seat) but the fashion for low stages and actors sitting and lying down means crap sightlines for the short in old theatres. Just make the stage higher!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Apr 30, 2019 13:55:32 GMT
I was at the Everyman for the first time on Saturday. Lovely theatre. Nice comfy seats,even for 3 hours of Sweeney, excellent rake, loads of legroom. I suspect there’s not a bad seat in the house. I wish they were all like that. I might go even more!
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Post by crowblack on Apr 30, 2019 14:06:43 GMT
I wish they were all like that. I think it has the same designers as the Dorfman and Bridge - I'm off to the teatime Sweeney this afternoon with £10 'behind the band' seats. I also asked if they'll let my friend in if she's running late and they said yes, to a house seat when there's the first opportunity, though I'm not sure whether that applies to non musicals.
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Post by cheesy116 on Apr 30, 2019 21:30:20 GMT
In my work, if someone asks me to move along a row to be more central and its empty, I always allow it. But if someone up in the gods approaches me saying they're scared of heights (the gallery/balcony in my work is extremely high and very steep) and ask if they can move to a lower level, I always tell them yes but they'll need to pay for the difference in price of the seat. 9 times out of 10, they'll suddenly not want to move anymore!
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Post by crowblack on Apr 30, 2019 22:06:26 GMT
if someone up in the gods approaches me saying they're scared of heights (the gallery/balcony in my work is extremely high and very steep If it's the first time they've been to that theatre then I don't blame them. I've booked upper circle seats, then looked online at audience pics of the vertiginous view and thought "no way!". In one recent case (I think it was True West) I asked if I could change my seat for a stalls seat and pay the extra (my gods seat was around £10, so an extra £30 for the £40 stalls) and, amazingly, they said no - I had to have both the stalls seat and the gods seat! I said forget it, and booked to see a different show at another, more reasonable theatre.
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Post by cheesy116 on Apr 30, 2019 22:14:40 GMT
if someone up in the gods approaches me saying they're scared of heights (the gallery/balcony in my work is extremely high and very steep If it's the first time they've been to that theatre then I don't blame them. I've booked upper circle seats, then looked online at audience pics of the vertiginous view and thought "no way!". In one recent case (I think it was True West) I asked if I could change my seat for a stalls seat and pay the extra (my gods seat was around £10, so an extra £30 for the £40 stalls) and, amazingly, they said no - I had to have both the stalls seat and the gods seat! I said forget it, and booked to see a different show at another, more reasonable theatre. To be honest if they kick up enough of a fuss and it involves a child or elderly person, they'll probably get moved for free especially if its quiet. But we are told to tell them that they may have to pay an upgrade fee, which usually makes them stay in their original seat.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2019 6:25:24 GMT
If they are scared of heights, why are they booking a seat in the highest part of the theatre in the first place?
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Post by galinda on May 1, 2019 7:55:46 GMT
Me and a friend booked cheap tickets up in the circle for The Full Monty at the Noël Coward a few years back. So high up and awful side view. We spotted a couple of free seats in the front row of the stalls and so moved down there in the interval. Wish we hadn’t though as I’ll never get that image of a naked ‘Jack Meadows’ from The Bill thrusting with a belt out of my head 🤮😂
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Post by crowblack on May 1, 2019 7:59:18 GMT
why are they booking a seat in the highest part of the theatre in the first place? Because they're poor.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2019 8:17:54 GMT
Not all balconies are created equal. Sometimes you get up there and think "oh, this is fine, I feel safe and secure and the stage doesn't look as distant as I thought it might", and sometimes you get up there and go "OH MY GOD THESE STEPS ARE SO STEEP AND NARROW AND THE SEATS ARE ALL TILTED FORWARD AND I SWEAR I JUST FELT THE BUILDING SWAY". It's perfectly possible to believe you're fine with the height of theatre balconies until you book a ticket for the one that genuinely makes you feel like you're about to tumble to your death.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2019 8:44:51 GMT
The only balcony seat I’ve actually found bearable was at the Lyceum for Local Hero, as it’s quite a small theatre, so it didn’t feel too high up. You could still see their facial expressions, even from the last row.
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Post by duncan on May 1, 2019 8:57:04 GMT
Not all balconies are created equal. The one in the Apollo Theatre (London) should be closed off, had the misfortune to sit there once - then had the utter stupidity to sit there a second time. Now refuse to even look to see if there are seats available there.
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Post by duncan on May 1, 2019 8:58:17 GMT
The only balcony seat I’ve actually found bearable was at the Lyceum for Local Hero, as it’s quite a small theatre, so it didn’t feel too high up. You could still see their facial expressions, even from the last row. The balcony is my level of choice for the Lyceum - Row C middle 4 seats for me it offers a better overall view of the stage than the front rows of the stalls.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2019 9:17:13 GMT
Not all balconies are created equal. The one in the Apollo Theatre (London) should be closed off, had the misfortune to sit there once - then had the utter stupidity to sit there a second time. Now refuse to even look to see if there are seats available there. I think they did close it off after the roof fell in. No great loss, DEFINITELY one of the worst balconies in London. Give me the Wyndham's any day!
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2019 9:18:31 GMT
The only balcony seat I’ve actually found bearable was at the Lyceum for Local Hero, as it’s quite a small theatre, so it didn’t feel too high up. You could still see their facial expressions, even from the last row. The balcony is my level of choice for the Lyceum - Row C middle 4 seats for me it offers a better overall view of the stage than the front rows of the stalls. I usually sit up there as the flat rate student tickets are up there. I find that it lets me take in the production more as a whole than the stalls.
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Post by The Matthew on May 1, 2019 11:37:05 GMT
It's perfectly possible to believe you're fine with the height of theatre balconies until you book a ticket for the one that genuinely makes you feel like you're about to tumble to your death. I remember one where at first sight it was almost like walking down a ladder. The floor just dropped away. Once I was sitting down and looking around it didn't seem so steep, but the initial surprise and the tiny rail that couldn't possibly stop a falling body were a bit disconcerting.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 1, 2019 11:40:39 GMT
That makes me feel dizzy just thinking about it. I genuinely do not understand how they’re still allowed with health and safety legislation being pretty stringent these days.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2019 12:06:20 GMT
why are they booking a seat in the highest part of the theatre in the first place? Because they're poor. But what's the point? OK, the seat is cheap but if they're that scared of heights isn't the likelihood that they won't be able to sit there in the end and they'll have wasted the money, making them even poorer?
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2019 12:08:22 GMT
or that they can get moved for nothing Ah I see. That makes more sense I suppose. Everyone wants something for nothing nowadays don't they.
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Post by crowblack on May 1, 2019 13:00:36 GMT
At West End prices, for some it's the only way to see a show. When I lived in London I rarely went to the theatre, despite being besotted with it as a teenager going to theatres in the North-West, because I just couldn't afford a decent seat and the cheap seats were as scary for me as a big dipper ride. This was pre-theatre-ticket-internet days, so I didn't know how to hunt out bargains.
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Post by Phantom of London on May 1, 2019 13:28:07 GMT
I get it that seat jumping is illegal, but judging these days where you cannot be done for shoplifting if your trolley is under £200.
However we go to the theatre a lot and become more enlightened, we show our love for the genre for not how much cash we hand over at the box office, but how often we go and support theatre, so if we get a little bonus along the way, then good luck, I say.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2019 14:24:29 GMT
Ha! I do love that we're fine with seat jumping, which as @baemax says is technically theft, but not with someone using their phone at the theatre (which isn't a crime). Court Services around the country are frantically scrubbing various names off of the jury service register as we speak.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2019 14:32:18 GMT
I'm operating on the idea of "your right to hit people ends where my face begins". If I'm surrounded by dozens of unsold and unoccupied seats and moving three seats over to my right improves my view immeasurably, then although I appreciate my moving isn't technically okay (and I will of course move back if told to do so), I'm not impeding anyone else's ability to enjoy the play by doing a quick shuffle as the lights go down. But if we're all watching a dimly-lit atmospheric play with hushed dialogue, and my phone lights up like a beacon *and* I answer it and have a conversation at a dialogue-obscuring volume, then damn straight I'm the asshole in this scenario.
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Post by crowblack on May 1, 2019 14:39:07 GMT
Is it? Who are you stealing it from, the venue or the ticket holder, and if the latter, where does that leave the issues/controversy around selling your ticket at above face value on a secondary ticket site?
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2019 14:56:20 GMT
OK, happy to. First, most theatres - West End ones for sure - have in the terms and conditions that you are only entitled to the seat you purchased, or one of equivalent value if they have to move you. Upgrading yourself without permission is breach of contract (civil offence) and can be construed as theft (criminal offence). So no, you can't move yourself.
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Post by crowblack on May 1, 2019 15:17:20 GMT
But shifting to an unoccupied seat of the same value or less? Last Saturday, the empty seat I was looking covetously at - it was too late to move - was £5 and had an unobstructed view. Mine was £32.50 plus £3 fee with a view blocked by the average hight woman in front of me. And what counts as the value, when you can find seats in the same area being offered at very different prices depending on where, when and how you book? For example, the £5 stalls seat mentioned above, which wasn't on offer at that price on the website, or the last minute £5 and £10 stalls seats to the Old Vic, where normal price was £60? On trains, you can upgrade an existing ticket to 1st at quiet times for a fee, but in theatres you can get the first class experience for as little as a fiver from the off if you spot that bargain. It'd be interesting to see this principle tested in a court of law.
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Post by zahidf on May 1, 2019 15:40:46 GMT
Ha! I do love that we're fine with seat jumping, which as @baemax says is technically theft, but not with someone using their phone at the theatre (which isn't a crime). Court Services around the country are frantically scrubbing various names off of the jury service register as we speak. Morally, no one cares if you seat jump, as long as the seat is free. Doesn't effect anyone
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