NT 2022

Which I suppose shows the lack of buzz round these shows and the National Theatre.... 

Does anyone still… go to the National Theatre?

Same!

Yes, I had no problem at all, loads of availability which is not a surprise given their pricing, other than those £20 tickets the pricing is insane. £46 for the very back row of the Lyttleton stalls. Really ?  

Joined the queue today out of curiosity, haven't got through it so fast in absolutely years and then yes as you say lots of availability and the prices are so high.

It is the Laffer Curve in action. If tickets were free the place would be full but he'd get zero revenue. If tickets were £500 each the place would be empty and he'd also get zero revenue. So it follows that there is some ticket price in the middle that will maximise his revenue. If Much Ado and the others sell out at those prices then I suppose he's around the right prices but so far they are not near that.


The RSC always have similarly high prices at the Barbican and it hasn't been close to full there for more than a decade but they persist with the same pricing and then have to try to offload a few more at £10 at the last minute. I wonder if the NT's dynamic pricing has ever reduced prices ? You only ever hear of it in the context of increases. 

I don’t think the situation the NT is in as as terminal as certain other theatres (eg RSC).

Clearly, the “golden” era (and it probably was that in overall terms) of Hytner is over, and his preferred actors and writers have moved with him to the Bridge. Norris hasn’t built the same base of directors, having earlier acted more as a host for one/two offs (Van Hove, Icke), Marianne Elliott and regional productions.

Having said that:
- the £20 front row seats remain a bargain even having risen from £10/12.50;
- the top prices are too high but some of that can be explained by subsidising the lower priced seats. The loss of Travelex has been felt here particularly.
- credit notes with no questions asked have been good, and often they don’t charge the £2 fee, even when I choose to return tickets.
- I’ve personally found the box office friendly, efficient and helpful.
- for every 2 duds which we can name there is probably a hit - it’s a while since Angels of America, but the Shakespeares directed by Simon Godwin, The Lehman Trilogy, A Normal Heart/ Follies directed by Dominic Cooke, Beginning and Small Island (a rare hit by Norris) have been IMO good, or at least popular.
- whilst NT at Home wasn’t that innovative, they got on with Romeo and Juliet on screen, and adapting the Olivier in the round, which is more than some in terms of working through Covid.

For me 7/10 for effort, and 6/10 for achievement! Hex and the Norris debacle there would bring it down more, but I’m trying to look at my whole experience.

Yes, I know regular NT theatre goers who have paid that. But of course many people wouldn’t and dare I say, the conversations on TB tend to be towards the bargains and lower priced tickets (not many people would come on here admitting they’d paid top price as the Cabaret discussion would indicate).

The current pricing is probably more “aspirational”. IF the reviews are good then demand may well pick up. I don’t know, but perhaps the NT planning is on the basis that only a certain % of tickets need to sell at top price, with others reduced and Rush tickets. Sure, we’d all like tickets at a flatter and lower rate, which is where it’s a shame nothing has replicated Travelex

.

I was told that to break even the NT needs to have a hit in either of the two big theatres. Over the years I have seen some great productions and some not so good ones. The book The National Theatre Story gives the attendances for shows up to 2014. Some plays I really liked didn't do well. 

All in all I'm proud of the NT and look forward to seeing a show there. The cheap tickets are great value and its a nice place. Its a pity that the proposed National Opera House wasn't built alongside, found that out from the NT story,  it but we were lucky to get the NT.   

New press release on NT web site today:
NATIONAL THEATRE ANNOUNCES TWO NEW PRODUCTIONS THE CRUCIBLE AND THE BOY WITH TWO HEARTS ON THE SOUTH BANK AND A MAJOR NATIONWIDE TOUR OF THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE • NT Associate Lyndsey Turner directs Arthur Miller’s The Crucible in the Olivier theatre with Brendan Cowell as John Proctor and Erin Doherty as Abigail Williams • Wales Millennium Centre’s widely acclaimed adaptation of Hamed and Hessam Amiri’s The Boy with Two Hearts transfers to the Dorfman theatre. Directed by Amit Sharma, and adapted for the stage by Phil Porter • Previously announced productions of Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky directed by Lynette Linton and the revival of Hex, the new musical based on Sleeping Beauty directed by Rufus Norris, also go on sale to the public on Wednesday 8 June • Opening at The Lowry, Salford, Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane will tour the UK and Ireland visiting 29 towns and cities for 40 weeks from December

Nothing in my inbox, but, heck, I'm only a paying member.