Three times in one day...

Managed 3 shows in an evening once

Woyzeck 19::00 Old Vic
Cover My Tracks. 22::00 Old Vic
Twelfth Night. 23:59 Globe

Fortunately the logistics was simple and convenient, Cover My Tracks filled the gap between the usual 2 show midnight matinee evening.perfectly.

Globe midnight matinee always special, walking to Blackfriars station along a quiet Southbank and getting home just as dawn is breaking.

Most i've done in a day is 7.

I’ve done 3 shows in one day in London once - like robertb213, thanks to the 11am performance of Seussical at the Arts, which was followed by the matinee of Merrily We Roll Along at the Menier and then finished off with The Bodyguard at the Adelphi.

Still not made it up to Edinburgh for the Fringe yet, but when I do that will no doubt take the lead from 3 shows!

Three-show days are EASY. I've never been to Edinburgh and I plan way too far in advance to be able to take advantage of things like Camden Fringe, but if you're looking to increase the number of three-show days you do, these are my top two tips:

1. Trilogies. I've spent a SIGNIFICANT portion of my life watching all three of Shakespeare's Henry VI plays in a single day, and there are variations on this specific theme available too (the RSC's 1 Henry IV + 2 Henry IV + Henry V, Trevor Nunn's Henry VI + Edward IV + Richard III). Then there's the James trilogy, the Young Chekhov trilogy, the Norman Conquests, the Donmar's all-female Shakespeares... just look out for a trilogy, then block off a whole day for it. SUPER easy!

2. Children's theatre. In filtering out my three-show days, one theatre kept popping up time and time again: the Unicorn Theatre. I get that children's theatre isn't for everyone (maybe you're joyless, or I have male friends who won't go to the Unicorn because of how weird it feels to be a solo man in that environment) but it's really handy for slipping in an early matinee, especially during school holidays. If you've always wanted to tick the Lyric off your list of "theatres I've visited" but aren't willing to see Thriller, they're also doing Room On The Broom this winter or The Gruffalo next summmer which will inevitably have morning performances that can slot in before a normal two show day. And if you don't want to go to the theatre in the morning *as well* as the afternoon *and* the evening, then it's not impossible to find a 1pm matinee at the Unicorn that'll let you get to the Menier for a 3:30pm matinee.

I've only ever once used a Globe midnight matinee to fill out a three-show day, and as that was after a morning and afternoon performance of the Henry IVs in Bath, I'm genuinely surprised I've survived this long. I've also had good fun using Punchdrunk shows to increase the number I've seen in a day; at weekends they'll usually have an early evening and a late evening performance, so you can either attend both of those after a matinee, or you can squeeze the late performance in after another evening show if that one isn't too long. And sometimes Daniel Kitson will have a show at one of the big theatres, and that often includes a morning performance on the schedule.

I do have a number of four-show days too; one of those started with a Daniel Kitson and ended with a Punchdrunk with a perfectly normal matinee and evening show in between, one featured two early shows at the Unicorn before moving on to a normal matinee and evening show, and one involved a 10am performance of The Gruffalo's Child followed by a 12pm performance of Wilde Creatures and again a normal matinee and evening show. So it's really just a matter of finding shows that slot neatly around the edges of what you're already likely to see, and it's *slightly* easier if you consciously book late matinees (like at the Menier or the Hampstead) and/or evening shows with short running times.

I did it for the first time earlier this year, it was something like

13:00 Guy: A New Musical (wished I hadn’t bothered!)
16:00 Six
19:30 Fun Home

Still managed to fit in dinner between the last 2 too!

I certainly remember the first time I managed this and have just gone through my emails to work out what the combination was.

Saturday 17 May 2014

14:30 - 1984 at the Playhouse Theatre
17:00 - Ushers at the Charing Cross Theatre
19:30 - The Pajama Game at the Shaftsbury Theatre

I like it when there are suitable length shows scheduled so this all works out.

Ushers was one of those shows which they scheduled at odd times. The only other time I saw it was the following year for a 22:30 Friday performance at the Arts Theatre (which was only a two show day for me).

Think I also managed three shows on a Sunday once, but that included the late night version of West End Bares. Still need to find a combination to fit in four different shows in a day.

Only at a film festival. Four Ingmar Bergman films on the trot. I was in mild hysteria 5 hours in.

I did the three Henry VI at Stratford. Also Tantalus, which consists of 9 plays, at the Barbican over two days.

Have done three in a day at the Edinburgh Festival but I struggle to remember what I saw. It might have been a musical version of Tess, a Pinter or two (Landscape?) and a double-bill of Brontes - Heights by Vince Foxhall and an adaptation Shirley by someone else.

Oh and the Noel Coward one-act play extravaganza at the Jermyn Street Theatre of course.