I’ve been fortunate in that this little old blog has led to me
being given tickets to a few shows, and I’ve won some competitions to see
things lately, but on the whole, seeing live theatre can be an expensive
habit. However, over the years, I have
learnt some ways to keep the costs down. Some of these tips are Melbourne
based, but I would imagine other cities/theatres have similar things.
So, here they are, in no particular order!
Preview
Performances
Before a show has an official opening night, they will often
have previews and these are generally cheaper. Sometimes things aren’t quite
ready and that can be really interesting to see, plus you are seeing it before
most people get a chance to.
Mid Week Shows
Shows that aren’t on Friday and Saturday nights are almost
always cheaper. Plus, the available
seats are usually better.
Restricted View
If you know your way around a particular theatre, there are
usually seats that are better than others, and ones that are cheaper than
others. For example, Her Majesty’s in Melbs sells restricted view seats. There
are ones up the back of the stalls, and although it means you can’t see right
to the top of the stage, for most shows this doesn’t actually matter, because not
a lot happens up there anyway. They also have some great ones about halfway
back in the stalls that are behind a pole. I’ve sat there heaps of times and
the pole doesn’t actually get in the way at all. These seats are about half the
price of the seats next to them. Also check out B and C reserve seats, if you just choose 'best available' when searching, it will select the most expensive ones.
I have also noticed that Melbourne Theatre
Company often sells the front row at a drastically reduced price. I am yet to
figure out why, I’ve sat there and the view is fantastic.
If you don’t know the
layout of the particular theatre, call them and ask about restricted view
seats.
Social Media
If you find the pages/accounts of any shows you are
interested in seeing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and like/follow them,
they will often post special offers there. Sometimes it’s a flash sale for 48
hours and you can snap up a bargain if the timing is right.
Rush Tickets
If a show isn’t sold out, you can sometimes just turn up to
the theatre a couple of hours before the show starts and they will sell you a
ticket at a huge discount. I’ve paid $45 for tickets I know are worth closer to
$150 doing it this way. They call these ‘Rush Tickets’ and they are
usually also advertised on social media. I usually check on the website and make sure there are a fair few unsold seats before I go to the theatre. You can also often get rush tickets through the TodayTix app.
Free Ticket Sites
There are a couple of websites that sometimes give out free tickets to things. Two I use are Promotix and It's On The House. Some of them are completely free, some have a small admin charged attached and some require you to pay for a membership to get the tickets, but it's usually WAY less than what the tickets actually cost.
Lotteries
A lot of shows have Lotteries, you enter for free, and then at a certain time you're notified if you won cheap tickets. Most of these are run through TodayTix, but some are through the ticketing agency themselves. Again, keeping an eye on the social media accounts for the show will usually tell you how to enter. BE WARNED that there is usually a time limit to claim and pay for the tickets after the notification email arrives, once that time is up, you'll miss out.
Group Bookings
If you get a group of you together and buy all the tickets at once, you will pay less. The amount of people you need varies for this, but usually at least 8 or 12 people will get you a discount.
Half Tix Melbourne
There’s a little booth behind the Melbourne Town Hall in Little Collins Street
that sells reduced price tickets to shows for that day and/or the next few days. The ‘catch’ with this is that often you have to buy them in person at the actual booth which means you need to get
there before they close, and that’s not always possible for me as I don’t live close
to the city. They do have some of their things available on their website though. Be aware that they are
not always the cheapest option and you might get cheaper by using the Rush
Tickets method as mentioned above.
Competitions
If you see a competition, enter it! I have lost count of the
amount of people who say to me ‘You always win stuff, I never win stuff’ but
when I ask them if they enter competitions they say no. How can you possibly expect to win if you don’t
enter? Some good websites/Facebook pages to keep an eye on for this are Theatre Matters and Stage Whispers.
Subscriptions
If it’s a theatre company that puts on lots of shows, they
will often offer discounts if you buy tickets to several of their shows at
once. You should be able to easily find information about this on their website or by calling them.
Mailing Lists
When you buy tickets online at either Ticketmaster or Ticketek, ALWAYS tick the box near the
end to say you would like to get offers. A lot of the time they will send you
stuff that isn’t relevant, but they will also send you stuff that is. Also join up to as many other mailing lists
as you can. For starters I recommend LastTix, Smart Tix, TodayTix and Showbiz. These guys
typically send out an email once a week with discount offers, sometimes more,
sometimes less.
Having said all this, sometimes I still pay full price for things. There are a few reasons
for this, sometimes it’s because a show only has a short run and I fear it
selling out. In some theatres I like sitting in certain places, so I will pay
the extra to guarantee it.
Do you have any tips for seeing good stuff on the cheap?
If you ever have any questions about seeing live stuff in
Melbourne, please feel free to contact me, I’m happy to help if I can!
