Theatres refusing to sell single seats

[ladidah]

I think the theatres could be more proactive in selling single seats, especially last minute.

The number of times I've gone to book, but it won't let me, so it just remains unsold.

[SilverFox]

Something else - that I disapprove of - that I have noticed is spreading, is the Box Office policy of taking entire areas of the theatre off-booking. This used to be those theatres with multiple levels, and I can sort-of understand that as they have to have staff on each tier, and on a less-than-full house this costs. However, it is now common at single tier theatres (Crucible Sheffield) or affects a major part of one of the tiers (Nottingham Playhouse). At both venues around half of the total seats are top price, and by removing the rear rows (at Sheffield), or the rear stalls and/ or balcony (at Nottingham) they remove a larger proportion of the lowest two priced seats, forcing someone to either pay more for a ticket than they intended, or waiting until they decide to release another batch of tickets. So much for advance booking to get the seat that you want! I booked both Dear Evan Hansen and Little Shop of Horrors and both had severely restricted selection of seats, yet I would have thought there is a very strong chance that both will sell well - indeed the Playhouse has now (on the performance which I booked, so remember the choice of seats I had at the time) opened the rear stalls, which have a great tiering, and view of the stage, and the front circle. This includes a much better choice for our group of four. Needless to say, once bought, they will not be willing to swap your allocated seats. I do not believe this has any cost / practicality saving for the theatre, so why do it?

You would think that theatres, post covid, would be making it easy to book, and would be putting the customer first.

[ceebee]

Very good point SilverFox - I've noticed this happening locally where my local theatre sometimes leaves the top level off sale and then when it goes on sale prices are the same as the original stalls starting price, which has subequently increased because demand has given them the confidence to do so. Not fair on people who are on a budget and are priced out.

[Jane Parfitt]

Couldn't you have just rung the box office?

Jul 18, 2024 7:41:53 GMT ceebee said:

Here's another angle from my experience yesterday. I wanted one single seat to "Standing at the Sky's Edge" in the evening. I could take my pick of many as over 1/4 of seats were unsold. I tried the usual route (Today Tix rush for £30) and was unsuccessful. Relatively few tickets available for singles or pairs and they all went quickly. I waited a couple of hours to see if more would be released, knowing I had TKTS as a back up. There were six central seats together in row M which are pretty perfect for this show, as it is better to be a little further back. Releasing that Today Tix were not releasing any more Rush seats, I went back to TKTS to find that some absolute plum had booked two tickets in the centre of the six seats (leaving two pairs either side). Yes, you've guessed it, I didn't get to see SATSE because TKTS system won't allow singles to be bought if it leaves a single. So the show lost a £45 sale as a result. If the software was smarter, when tickets are discounted it would autoamtically bump pairs/singles to the end of a section of six seats rather than allowing a sale to "split" the row.

My own view of sites like TKTS is that if they are genuinely offering discount opportunities, restrictions should be lifted to allow anybody to buy any seat anywhere in any permutation or volume. It seems like TKTS tickets are ringfenced and go off sale on other sites, which is a pity as it used to be to so simple just to open the "official" website for a show, select one or more seats for purchase and then to go to an alternative site to buy the desired single seat.

Aside from it being my final opportunity to see Standing at the Sky's Edge, I always feel when missing out on seats that producers/theatres are cutting off their noses to spite their face when it is literlaly three or four hours before the performance.

[ceebee]

Probably though I wanted the Rush/discount price rather than full price.

[christya]

Jul 18, 2024 8:06:49 GMT Phantom of London said:

I can see both sides of the argument.

It is frustrating as a theatregoer to not to be able to book a single seat, knowing the show will not sell out, or there is a single seat, but it is in a higher price band than you are willing to pay. I get it.

But I also I see it from a theatre owner/producer perspective in that if you allow the public to book what they want, you are always going to get a punter book a single seat in the middle of 3 seats for sale, rendering the 2 seats either side as singles and therefore unlikely to sell.

Thing is, that particular situation can be accounted for. When I book a cinema seat, I've seen it move seats across if you leave one seat gap. It must be possible to do that while still allowing people to buy a single.

[andys]

Jul 18, 2024 7:41:53 GMT ceebee said:

It seems like TKTS tickets are ringfenced and go off sale on other sites, which is a pity as it used to be to so simple just to open the "official" website for a show, select one or more seats for purchase and then to go to an alternative site to buy the desired

TKTS have always had distinct separate allocation. When they began they had bundles of printed tickets collected from box offices by a bike courier each day, and returned the unsold ones about an hour before curtain time.

[Rozzi Rainbow]

I had a surprisingly positive experience today with Newcastle Theatre Royal. I'd tried to book last night, for a show a couple of weeks away that is very well sold, and there were two pairs of seats in the front stalls and then nothing until the very back. Of course when I tried to book a single from one of these pairs I received the "computer says no" response and couldn't do the trick of "holding" one in another browser as it wouldn't go off sale.

For a split second I debated just purchasing both of them in order to be able to sit where I wanted, but my mum - who is much more level headed than me - suggested I should phone them. Which I did this morning, when the box office opened. I didn't have to plead my case at all, straight away they just said they could override it and sell me one. Well done Newcastle, happy Rozzi!

So if anyone else finds themselves in this situation and hasn't already, it's definitely worth speaking to a human if you can. It's good to know some of them can be reasonable.

[Rozzi Rainbow]

Jul 23, 2024 17:46:27 GMT Rozzi Rainbow said:

I had a surprisingly positive experience today with Newcastle Theatre Royal. I'd tried to book last night, for a show a couple of weeks away that is very well sold, and there were two pairs of seats in the front stalls and then nothing until the very back. Of course when I tried to book a single from one of these pairs I received the "computer says no" response and couldn't do the trick of "holding" one in another browser as it wouldn't go off sale.

For a split second I debated just purchasing both of them in order to be able to sit where I wanted, but my mum - who is much more level headed than me - suggested I should phone them. Which I did this morning, when the box office opened. I didn't have to plead my case at all, straight away they just said they could override it and sell me one. Well done Newcastle, happy Rozzi!

So if anyone else finds themselves in this situation and hasn't already, it's definitely worth speaking to a human if you can. It's good to know some of them can be reasonable.

The single seat I left has now sold, which I expect comes as no surprise to anyone here 

[profquatermass]

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