Matinee Times - Have You A Preference?

I like the traditional 2:30pm matinee time, as I like to have time to walk between theatres and get something to eat before seeing my evening show, and a 3pm matinee or later doesn't always lend itself to this unless I'm very careful with my planning. Also, if a play is likely to be long, then I'm more than happy for the matinee to start even earlier. I couldn't help but feel for the cast of The Crucible at the Old Vic, having so little time between shows to get themselves together, fed, and ready to start again.

Agree with all the above, though I do like a 4pm/5pm start on a Sunday specifically - gives me plenty of time to get things done beforehand and I still get home for a respectable early night!

Ultimately it depends on the length of the matinee show really.

I like to arrive at a theatre 30 mins before curtain up to use the loo, get a programme and get settled in the auditorium, and if you have a long matinee then travel time between theatres and getting food could be stretched.

I have been to London so many times now that there isn't really much for me to do outside of my theatre time short of wiling away time in a coffee shop.

If I've travelled up early to dayseat then a 2:30pm matinee is goid because I'll have run out of time wasting patience by about 1pm.

I saw the 3:30pm Funny Girl at the Menier followed by the 7:30pm Gypsy at the Savoy and there was just about time to grab a sandwich on the move between theatre visits, which wasn't ideal.

not too fussed if its 2:30 or 3pm on a weekday, but agree that its nice to have sunday shows at 3 or 4pm

i wish we would go the way Broadway has and have more theatres dark on a Monday with a show on Sunday instead

I don't mind really so long as it's a reasonable time when you can have a G&T in the interval.

So I guess I'm happy with a start anytime after 11.45am really.

It really depends as people have said, if it's a long show I'm fine with an earlier start time than 2.30 because either I'm travelling home (as when I went to Bristol last week) and want to be home at a reasonable time to eat or I'm going to another show so I want time to walk there/grab food etc.

And from a show/tech point of view nobody on or off stage wants a turnaround so tight you barely catch your breath.

And as someone who travels home on a Sunday from London I'd like a few earlier ones so I can catch a Sunday show-those 4pm ones are too late usually.

I prefer 3pm as I can go down to London later & have less time to have to kill between shows. I nearly always go to the theatre on my own & never eat between shows so the less time I have to spend wandering around London waiting for the evening show to start the better.

I, too, prefer having as little time between shows as possible, so I prefer a 3pm start.

We do? Jersey Boys is the only Tuesday Matinee I'm aware of, and I don't know any on Fridays - I so wish there were some. For my weekend trips, I usually take the Friday off work anyway, so I'm in town early enough for a Matinee.

Don't forget Saturday and Sunday matinees - they have been mentioned in earlier posts on this thread!

Shame the NT and the Park have given up on Sundays and a few West End theatres have that odd early evening one on Fridays (e.g. 5 pm and 8 pm), but so far as Tuesdays are concerned, the NT has some of those; the Orange Tree switches its weekday matinees from Thursday to Tuesday in summer; Southwark Playhouse has Tuesday matinees for a forthcoming show and the Finborough regularly has Tuesday matinees for the second play/show which runs Sun/Mon/Tues in tandem with the main one.

But the question is Matinee Times - Have You A Preference?

I used to like going to the Orange Tree Theatre when it had a Tuesday Matinee.  As for Start times I don't really care although 4pm seems too late. 

It'd be really interesting to know why some theatres schedule the times they do, and generally so unwaveringly. The valid point about allowing turnaround time on a 2-show day has already been made, and the NT varies the matinee (and sometimes) evening start times according to the length of the play, but why other theatres opt for relatively early or late matinees is a mystery to me and means much re-checking, depending on what I'm seeing. And at some theatres, e.g. the Park and Southwark Playhouse, I'll only go to a matinee because the evening performance time is too late (7.45 pm or 8 pm in the smaller spaces).