It’s London Theatre Week, which means two things:
Firstly, it’s time to get excited about booking loads of shows you haven’t yet had time to see.
Secondly, the name London Theatre Week is a con, because the event isn’t actually a week. It runs from 19 February to 3 March 2024 so it’s actually more like London Theatre Two-and-a-bit-Week.
Anyway, over 50 London theatre shows participate in the event, where some of the best tickets for shows are massively reduced from huge fees to around £35 or £25.
Buy the tickets before the start of March for shows up until May 2024 and shows taking part include the Back to the Future musical, West End longrunning legendary thriller The Mousetrap, the new musical production of Hello Dolly! at the Palladium with Imelda Staunton and the brilliant new Stranger Things show.
Also included are dystopian Jonny Lee Miller comedy A Mirror, the Harry Potter show and Book of Mormon.
It has long been a criticism of London theatre that show tickets are too expensive, pricing out many Brits from going to the theatre. All of us Strangers star Andrew Scott spoke out recently against ticket prices, telling BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme: “No matter how zeitgeisty or how modern you think your play is, if you are having to spend £150, no person between the age of 16-25 or beyond is going to be able to afford that. That is frustrating to me.
“Hopefully, there is some night or two nights a week when you can get something like a sale rack, you have to be prepared to rummage a little bit. It is important that it doesn’t remain an elitist art form.”
Many West End shows do offer ballot tickets at a cheaper rate or daily releases of more affordable tickets but they can be hard to get.
Theatre industry body SOLT and many West End producers have defended the cost of tickets.
For more information and to book tickets click here.