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Post by Phantom of London on Jun 28, 2019 16:00:29 GMT
So what factors do you consider when booking a show?
My bar can be a lot lower than some on this board as I work in London and don’t have the additional expense of train tickets or/and hotels, I can access last minute cheaper tickets too, so I would expect if you have those additional expenses on top of what may not be a cheap ticket, I would assume that your show selection is going to be more rigorous? What makes you decide, also point out please if you have these extra costs on top.
Even though I work in London, I do travel outside London to see good regional or touring productions.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 28, 2019 16:38:59 GMT
My spending has gone up a bit lately and as a result I'm not having as many evenings on the sofa as I would like (double boo hiss).
So I've reverted back to a rule I used when I was a student and then saving for a mortgage / house buying.
*don't see things you've seen before*
Except for Sondheim, Bernstein, Britten and Adams.
Although if Marriane Elliot all of sudden decides to direct Too close to the Sun or Imagine this then I could be tempted
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Post by indis on Jun 28, 2019 16:40:08 GMT
interesting topic, good music (if i get a snipped before somewhere)
and a very important point: cast!
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 28, 2019 18:30:38 GMT
@theatremonkey.com as I'm a, noseybonk what are your recent wildcards?
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Post by missthelma on Jun 28, 2019 18:44:13 GMT
I will admit to being very shallow, for me it's nearly always about who is in the cast. I have sat through some truly abominable drivel due to this. And probably missed some gems. I am one of those people who say 'but...' when I hear the phrase 'you pay for the show'. For instance the Young Vic Hamlet next year has solely been booked for Cush Jumbo in my case, if she is indisposed or drops out I doubt I'll go. I may miss the most revelatory production and the birth of a new star who takes over for her but so be it.
I also will see the work of certain writers regardless of cast, one used to be Tennessee Williams but have grown a bit tired of his tropes. I would put Stephen Adly Guirgis and Lynn Nottage top of current list, and of course Ibsen. Bruce Norris and Joshua Harmon are two I would seek out more of as have enjoyed what I've seen but feel I need to see more to decide. And obviously Sondheim and Kander/Ebb on the musical side are pretty much certainties.
Every now and again something will pop up that looks interesting and I will go in fairly blind, Fairview at the Young Vic later this year is one such.
I'm so so lucky to live in London and can go last minute if something piques my interest, also saves money travelling!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2019 21:21:05 GMT
I look first of all at what is local, or local ish. Sheffield Crucible, Manchester Royal Exchange & Lowry, Derby, Nottingham or Leeds, possibly RSC. From those, I choose things that either sound really good fun (e.g. The Nap, Six, Annie Get Your Gun) or are an adaptation of a book I've loved (Remains of the Day) or are really well known and respected plays that I've not seen before but that sound interesting (Madness of King George, History Boys, Our Town, Frost/Nixon), or that are Shakespeares I like AND have a cast including someone I've seen before and liked, or that just sound really interesting AND are under £25 (Seven Acts of Mercy). If I'm going to London for something, then it needs to either have someone in the cast I really want to see AND be a play that I've seen and liked before or that sounds really interesting and where tickets are under £50 (NT Twelfth Night, Company, YV Death of a Salesman, Girl from the North Country). I won't go to London for something risky as I just can't afford it - I can only really afford to go a handful of times in a year. I'll risk something a bit 'out there' at Sheffield if it's under £20 - which isn't often these days - but not further afield unless it's a bargain.
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Post by lynette on Jun 28, 2019 22:01:47 GMT
I agree cast is important. If Simon Russell Beale has agreed to be in something then it is worth a look-see. Of course the insecurity of actors does lead to some duds. Like most of the Board I get the emails and so on with the future programmes of the main theatres and some of the fringe and i book for what takes my fancy and for the classics i love unless it is a ‘new version of’ when I look more closely. Recommendations from here and friends though tbh I’ve usually either already booked anything my friends notice or dismissed it and I’m usually right. Venue for me counts. I cant get to Chichester easily or to say Richmond but the Wyndhams is my local cos it involves only one shortish tube and one flight of stairs out of Leicester Square. Likewise I consider Sheekey’s my dining room 🤪🤪
I often book yonks ahead. My, how time flies.
I don’t see enough new stuff so I’m always grateful for recs from you lot.
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Post by anita on Jun 29, 2019 9:53:15 GMT
If I can afford a ticket. I have a free pass so can get into London for nothing. It has to be a musical [ or occasionally a comedy]. The cast or the writer [ especially ALW] or sometimes if it just sounds interesting or different.
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Post by andrew on Jun 29, 2019 10:13:44 GMT
I see pretty much everything the NT puts on, because I can get there in about 15 minutes and try to pay £15 for tickets. I get exposed to a lot of things I wouldn't have bothered going to otherwise so it's a nice way of expanding my horizons with regards to plays.
Like I think the vast majority of people will say, I go to things that have people I like associated with them. Directors or writers or actors. Sometimes that's going to a shallow inclination like "oh I like him off the telly", but most of the time it's things like knowing I always enjoy Robert Icke or Marianne Elliot plays, or that Lia Williams is literally incredible in everything.
And then a good 30% of things I go to is dictated by the response on this board, to a lesser extent to the response on twitter, and to a lesser extent still the response from critics. This is also stops me from seeing things, for example I've stayed away from The Starry Messenger despite initial high interest.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2019 10:52:17 GMT
Casting does not bear much influence on my decision to see a show, unless it's someone I don't particularly like in which case I'll avoid it, but I don't go to se a show solely because someone I like is in it.
Composer/score is the main appealing factor for me. After that it could be any of a huge amount of factors. Does it sound interesting? Is it something different?
There has to be a reason for it though. Theatre for the sake of theatre doesn't interest me. EG Jason Manford in Curtains has 0 appeal. Jake Gyllenhall in Sunday in the Park does. Not because of who's playing George but because I love the score and to me it's themes resonate.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 29, 2019 11:43:18 GMT
as I'm a, noseybonk what are your recent wildcards Spice Girls at Wembley Stadium. I think all reviewers should got to at least one stadium pop concert - it would make them less snotty. Next one is "Disney On Ice." You were probably expecting something "intellectual," but there's been nothing that far "out there" this year - perhaps "The Damned" at the most? Fact is, I wouldn't normally see either Spice or a Disney Ice Show, so it's different for me and therefore more of a challenge. Correct. I was expecting a woman on a swing eating an ice cream while a man kicks bucket reciting French vocab form a 1989 GCSE study guide |
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 29, 2019 11:49:20 GMT
I usually have to want to see both a piece and the cast in order to go to something, though occasionally I will go for just one or the other. I refuse to book for anything before the cast is announced. Directors only influence me in the negative sense: I'll never see a piece for a director but I sometimes won't see a piece because of a director (this mostly applies to opera). Ticket prices are occasionally a disincentive, but fortunately most of the hot ticket shows starring film or TV stars don't interest me anyway.
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Post by david on Jun 29, 2019 12:10:29 GMT
For me , with respect to casting, this isn’t generally a normal consideration when booking stuff. Though I will make an exception when Maxine Peake or Lia Williams are associated with a production, then these will go to the front of the “to see” list without hesitation.
For musical’s, I’m a big sucker for jukebox stuff, so generally anything like that I’ll go and watch it. For non jukebox, anything from the ALW or Sondheim collections gets bumped up to must see.
If the subject matter is of any interest to me, then I’ll generally book for it. As social history as well as anything science based are of particular interest to me, anything dealing with those subjects gets booked.
I also like exploring places and venturing into new theatres so anything that allows me to get into buildings that aren’t traditional playhouses are worth looking at as well as seeing a show in them, such as Witness for the Prosecution in London’s County Hall or the former KX theatre.
As I’m based in the NW, travel and accommodation are big financial considerations, particularly for trips to London so planning theatre really is a bit like planning a military operation so ticket price is a big driving factor for me. Thanks to those £15 seats at the NT as well as those £10 Donmar circle and £10 / 20 Almeida seats it helps feed my theatre habit without breaking my bank balance.
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Post by Phantom of London on Jun 30, 2019 12:21:52 GMT
So how do I go about selecting my ticket?
Obviously I am never going to admit to be sold on a review, I had no interest in seeing Small Island at the National, coming in at 3hr 10 it is a bounder of a show, especially as if I cannot get in to it, however seeing Michael Billington’s 5 star review and it is about the topical Windrush, I know hope to see this, if I can get a reasonable priced ticket. Sure my heart has been softened up in the past by good/excellent reviews.
Obviously I am never going to admit going to see something on star casting, however Ian McKellen playing the titular role in King Lear I am so there, however have no interest in his recent tour, as not my bag, as I love to see performance to a great piece of work, so star casing such as Mark Rylance, Simon Russell Beale, Roger Allan, Anthony Sher, Alex Jennings and David Suchet etc and even more contemporary artists such as Tom Hidderstone, Mark Strong, Rory Kinnear or Andrew Scott etc and from the ladies Judy Dench, Leslie Manville, Penelope Wilton and Helen Mirren etc and Billie Piper, Patsy Ferran and Denise Cough from the more contemporary modern actors.I plan to see Fiddler on the Roof again, just to see Maria Friedman perform, who I have never seen on stage before. So star names do interest me, but I wouldn’t hold someone from the television/films above a stage actor. If I hear someone gives a brilliant performance I will do my best to see them regardless of their reputation. I hope to see Orpheus Descending because it has the excellent Hattie Morahan who was brilliant in a Doll’s House (also see post below.)
The playwright gets me buying such as British Writers as Noel Coward, Terrence Rattigan, Michael Frayn Harold Pinter, Alan Ayckbourn, Alan Bennett, David Hare, John Osbourne and certain mainstream Shakespeare etc and brilliant American writers such as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neil, Edward Albee, David Mamet and August Wilson, love to see more Neil Simon only if someone would produce it. Do love Ibsen and less so Chechov but will see both their plays. Numerous young Playwrights I will see such as Laura Wade, James Graham, Lyne Nottage and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Rogers and Hammerstein, Alan Jay Lerner, Frank Loesser, Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber etc will get a seating plan coming up and ticket bought.
I have read good things on this very board and that has definitely got me scrambling for a ticket.
What I won’t see and that is if the cast isn’t being paid, I used to though.
Also do not go to musical performers concerts or one night only like to recent one with Ian McKellen.
When in New York it is very rare I will see something off Broadway as it’s too experimental, however if I was a New Yorker this is where I will see most of my theatre.
I have never been to Edinburgh fringe for the same reason above and I have being given too much choice.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 30, 2019 12:40:18 GMT
What I won’t see and that is if the cast isn’t being paid, I used to though. How do you know if the cast are being paid properly though? For instance, I saw a musical at the Finborough last year because an actor I like was in it. While chatting to him afterwards I discovered that the cast were only being paid £50 a week. I didn't know that beforehand, & he seemed pleased that I had come to see him in the show, so what is one supposed to do in that instance? Surely it's even worse for actors if they aren't being paid much and there's no audience? |
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Post by maggiem on Jun 30, 2019 15:03:58 GMT
It's various things for me, and if they combine, so much the better:-
Have I seen the play/musical before, if it's a writer I know? e.g. Miller's "The Price" or "Mel Brooks' "The Producers" - never seen them before.
If I've seen the play/musical before, how long is it since I last saw it? e.g. All My Sons at the Old Vic - early 1990s
Does the subject interest me, if it's a new play/musical(writer/composer doesn't matter)? e.g. "Photograph 51", "Little Eagles" (and way back when, "Witches of Eastwick!")
Do I want to see particular known stage actors? e.g. Toby Jones
Do I want to see particular known film/tv actors who also work on stage, as I haven't seen them before? e.g. Bill Pullman, Bradley Cooper, Sally Field, Nicole Kidman
All of the above don't happen without the following (David, you're right about the planning!):-
Can book early enough to get:- the cheaper seats upstairs (usually front row in the upper circle), the hotel I want for those dates (as I see most West End theatre over a weekend),
the cheap advance train tickets?
I have been to some regional/local theatres too if I wanted to see a specific play:- "Deathtrap" (Oldham Coliseum and Sheffield Lyceum productions); "Admissions" and "Art" (the Lowry); "The King's Speech" (Manchester Palace and Leeds Grand).
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Post by theatremad on Jul 1, 2019 15:18:03 GMT
RSC is always buy tickets for any and every show if its in Stratford, and on the rare occasions they premiere outside of Stratford I'll go. Live 3 miles away and it was my first passion.
National Theatre went through a phase of being similar to the RSC, though I'm now more selective.
Its quite often the playwright and the play, if its been on my bucket list or I've heard good things about their previous work. Peter Gynt at the National had nothing to do with actor or adaptor, it was purely based on my love of this play. Same with Bartholomew Fair
Very rarely is it the director/lead actor or anything else. Most shows I book seem to not announce any casting until after I've kissed goodbye to my cash and am going.
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Post by missthelma on Jul 1, 2019 17:57:30 GMT
So how do I go about selecting my ticket? By looking for the cheapest one where I will be close enough to at least possibly make out a facial expression!
£50 is my upper limit for a ticket, maybe a bit more for a spectacular musical, nowadays you're lucky to find balcony seats for that 'up West' so it comes down to waiting for deals, discounts, Today Tix etc.
Granted my life would be easier with better eyesight but age is no respecter of wallets |
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