GETTING THAT SOLD OUT TICKET

(Also see Avoid Touts)

Be first in the Know
Sorry, but knowing what is coming and when tickets will go on sale is the best way of guaranteeing your seat.

Shows which will always sell out even before they open generally include anything with a star name involved, either in the cast - Elaine Paige or Maggie Smith; or producing - Mr. Lloyd Webber or Disney Corporation. These shows will be booked pretty solid for several weeks or months after opening night, and longer if reviews and public word of mouth are favourable.

Reading the Baz Bamigboye showbiz column in the Daily Mail newspaper on a Friday will keep you abreast of developments, giving details of what is likely to happen. Theatremonkey finds this better than watching TV interviews or other journalists reports - Baz is just so far ahead of the pack. 

The online e-mailing list run by www.whatsonstage.com offers a weekly newsletter with solid advance rumours. The theatremonkey homepage carries "live" updates of all articles rounded up in that particular email.

Group sales companies also get details well in advance, and tickets sometimes go on sale to groups before the general public. Register with Ticketmaster groups www.ticketmaster.co.uk or Group Line www.groupline.com / 020 7436 5588 to get details mailed to you.

Subscribing to "The Theatre List", a postal version of the Society of London Theatres website is expensive, but gives a long range warning of new shows scheduled. Call 020 7557 6771 for further details.

Be first in the line
Contact the theatre box office after reading Baz's column. Get a date for tickets going on sale. If they cannot or will not say, watch for teaser advertisements. These will appear in the Press - notably the London Evening Standard on Fridays, The Sunday Times Culture section and the Friday Daily Mail. Details of booking opening dates are often in small print in the adverts - some even offer advance booking just for readers.

Theatremonkey sends a letter to the box office a couple of weeks before this date requesting tickets. Mark the envelope clearly with the show title and ' Advance Box Office'. State a number of dates, specify evening or matinee, preferred seat location and maximum price you will be prepared to pay. Give a daytime and evening contact telephone number for queries, and enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return of tickets. See letter on this site for an effective example.

Theatremonkey notes that postal ticket requests are often processed early and this method often gets the best tickets.

A very large advertisement in the Sunday Times Culture section signifies the opening of major show telephone bookings, traditionally at 10a.m. that day. Phone the hotline number at a bit before or a bit after, then try again at random intervals. Oddly, most people try again every five minutes. If you call, say, every seven and a quarter, your call will avoid the switchboard logjam and get answered first! Do remember to check the small print beside phone numbers, and only dial those without booking fees or low service charges!

The latest trend, since "Breath Of Life" pioneered it in June 2002, is to open priority internet booking two weeks before tickets are sold by any other method. The news is spread by email to subscribers to particular lists. Those particularly used to launch offers are run  www.lastminute.com/theatrenow  and www.whatsonstage.com. Getting onto these lists is free and worthwhile- they do not sell your details on, and the information is invaluable. Additionally the "Priority Membership" paid subscription scheme run by www.ticketmaster.co.uk is often used. This system may well be the future of popular show booking in the future, so is well worth knowing about.

Another development is the producer "holding off sale" some prime seats for many performances when booking initially opens, then trickling them back on sale as it gets closer to opening night. Worth ringing regularly if you can't get decent seats initially, as in a week or three they might have something good...

Beat the 'Line Busy' tone
Theatre chains Really Useful and Ambassador both have centralised phonerooms. No matter which theatre in the chain you dial, your call is routed to one place. This central place has access to reservations systems at ALL theatres in the chain. If you get the line busy tone, ring the number of another chain member and ask sweetly for the clerk to take your booking. Few refuse.

"General" phone numbers for each theatre chain are:

RU Theatres / See Tickets: 0870 830 0200 or 020 7087 7500.

Ambassador Group Theatres: 020 8544 7424.

Ticketmaster: 0161 385 3211.

Really Useful 
By the by, at Really Useful and Get Live theatre box offices, should you call in person,  you can often (but NOT ALWAYS) also make reservations for any other show hosted by the chain at the same time as buying your tickets for the current resident production. This saves tourist time and feet and is a little known facility. But very useful. Just do not do it in the hour before the show starts, or those waiting to collect tickets may lynch you.

Mailing lists
The other best method of jumping the line. Prior to Nicole Kidman's London debut, thousands joined the Donmar list for advance booking privilege. They were probably about the only ones to get in. No waiting for adverts, the news is delivered in good time to your door. Just remember to act on the same day you get the details - mailing lists are huge and full of avid theatregoers all competing with you. Hesitation is fatal, as National Theatre list members will attest. Companies with lists offering priority booking include the Royal Shakespeare, Royal Court, Royal National, Donmar and Ambassador Group theatres.

The Ambassador Theatre Group's scheme, 'UPSTAGE' sometimes reserves a selection of seats for members, which are only released to the public two days before the show. Membership is £18 per year. Details on 020 7369 1789.

Visitors to London, Theatremonkey knows, often cannot book the months ahead that the above methods require. So to get in on short notice…

Ask for the least
Single seats are easier to come by than pairs. Often the box office or agencies will have an odd ticket - insist to the clerk that they check the computer properly. Sadly too many, especially in phonerooms at busy times, will believe the hype and will not. But be polite. If your party is prepared to split up you have a chance. This advice should possibly be ignored by those on a first date though.

Reader Ali agrees on this point,
"Just a note on getting tickets – I was on my own, buying only one ticket (obviously!) I was offered several good options for seats... I have in the past bought 3 single tickets for my family, sometimes scattered all through the theatre, in order to get to see a show – after all, you are watching the show, not chatting, and you can always meet up in the interval. You get a better choice if you buy singles, as they fit you in the gaps, so the seats may be very, very good. It wouldn’t necessarily work if you have young children though."

If just getting to see a show is the important thing, do not be picky about date, time, price or seat location. Even theatremonkey has accepted bad or expensive seats on occasion just to 'be there' for an event. Accept the good seats (except house seats as below) are gone, and be grateful to get in at all.

Be an earlybird
Most people assume that a good review automatically means the show is sold out the second the word "hits the street". Not true. In London the public tend to buy seats around three weeks ahead. In the case of a new smash hit show review, the first few days after opening will often be less busy than you expect, so tickets will often be available!

Try the Returns and / or "Day Seats" line
Even sold out shows have tickets left on the day of performance. These usually consist of tickets given back to the box office by customers unable to use them, or agencies unable to sell their stock. A few even come from Police and Consumer Protection officers who have confiscated tout's stock. Also, the theatre usually hasn't sold the type of seats mentioned above. Best of all are added a few prime seats called 'house tickets' normally kept back for VIP / managers use but not required that day.

Some theatres, notably the Royal National, the Royal Shakespeare Company (wherever they are currently playing), Royal Court and Lyceum also keep back a few seats deliberately for sale on the day of performance as a public service and anti tout measure. Increasingly, this trend is being followed by the most popular musicals and plays at other venues, with the front row of the stalls being held for sale on the day - often more cheaply (though they may have a slightly restricted view of the stage, particularly where the height of the stage prevents seeing the actors' feet!).

Returns lines form outside the theatre from around 8a.m, earlier for really hot shows and in summer. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. and continue to be sold as they come in, right through until curtain up time, so stick around until then - even if it seems "all hope" is gone, you never know! Wrap up warm, take refreshments, and be prepared to wait. Make sure that you also take BOTH credit cards AND cash too, to the value of the most expensive tickets (if you are prepared to pay it!). Some box offices insist that you pay with one or the other specifically, depending on the source of the tickets they are selling you.

A reader says,
"You can usually get really good returns at the Donmar for a Sat eve if you get there by about 6 and are prepared to wait; we got front row tickets for "Frost Nixon" for example. It's first come first served and the BO staff are really helpful, and you need cash. If there's two of you, one can sit and wait and the other can shop in Covent Garden, fetch supplies of food etc. I've had similar experiences for other sold out shows there and at the Almeida, more than once.

The Royal Court's system works on the basis that you turn up after a certain time on the day and get given a card with a number; you then go back at a certain time (I think half an hour before the start time, but you would need to check) and they sell off what they've had returned in the order of your numbered card. We got great tickets for 'the Seagull' last year (2007)."