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Post by palace on May 5, 2017 15:52:47 GMT
I've booked for this today and it is damned annoying that members get exclusive booking rights before us plebs can get a chance to book. I realise that the NT make money from memberships but not everyone lives close enough to London or wants to see lots of National Theatre productions to make them want to join. I think this is a limited run, so not everyone has a fair chance of booking and getting good seats. Considering there were plenty of seats left and no queue when I booked in the middle of this afternoon then I don't think that's fair - it's up to each individual if they want to see a show so badly they'll pay for membership for early booking. This is by no means the hottest ticket of the year. There are seats left but each date seems to have limited availability. But you have misunderstood my point. My post was not concerned with the availability but with the quality of seats available. The seats available seem to be at the back or at the sides because the front and centre seats have been snapped up by the members. The NT is subsidised, therefore they should not be offering seats to an elite few before they offer them on sale to the general public and don't forget this production has a limited booking period. So that makes it even more unfair. The National Theatre is subsidised and a registered charity and should offer equal access to all. www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/about-the-national-theatre |
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2017 15:52:50 GMT
I've booked for this today and it is damned annoying that members get exclusive booking rights before us plebs can get a chance to book. I realise that the NT make money from memberships but not everyone lives close enough to London or wants to see lots of National Theatre productions to make them want to join. I think this is a limited run, so not everyone has a fair chance of booking and getting good seats. There's plenty of availability left and the NT always hold back an allocation for general release. |
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2017 15:53:02 GMT
^And a lot of us are members to support the work of the National, or just like getting the material posted to us. Indeed. 'cos we're philanthropists aren't we. Well, that and I want my name on the wall thingy in the lobby. |
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Post by palace on May 5, 2017 15:55:10 GMT
^And a lot of us are members to support the work of the National, or just like getting the material posted to us. Indeed. 'cos we're philanthropists aren't we. Well, that and I want my name on the wall thingy in the lobby. Yes, the ones at the back and the side. Cattle class! |
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Follies
May 5, 2017 16:00:03 GMT
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Post by shady23 on May 5, 2017 16:00:03 GMT
I got a row C seat in the stalls this morning for under £20 with fees etc.
Cheap, good seats were available.
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Post by palace on May 5, 2017 17:05:38 GMT
By secondary ticketing do you mean ticket sellers like See Tickets and Ticketmaster? They don't sell tickets for this show. If they did, the booking fee isn't that high. Get Me In, Stubhub, Viagogo and the like could sell them but their prices would be really high and it wold be the elite who would end up paying a lot more than being a member of the NT. Therefore, the system works very well for the members and the NT but it doesn't for the non member and your argument fails. BTW Your site is wonderful and seatplan.com/ is also very good. |
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Post by showgirl on May 5, 2017 17:07:46 GMT
I'm confused now: does anyone please know for sure whether the NT does hold back some £15 seats for public booking? Because if so, I'd have tried again this morning, having had a disastrous experience on Priority Members' booking day when the website froze so by the time I reached the booking stage, all the £15 seats appeared to have gone and I had to pay more or miss out.
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Follies
May 5, 2017 17:16:09 GMT
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Post by Ade on May 5, 2017 17:16:09 GMT
I'm confused now: does anyone please know for sure whether the NT does hold back some £15 seats for public booking? Because if so, I'd have tried again this morning, having had a disastrous experience on Priority Members' booking day when the website froze so by the time I reached the booking stage, all the £15 seats appeared to have gone and I had to pay more or miss out. I couldn't say for sure but I know that when I booked AiA I tried on the Priority date and there was nothing I wanted in the front £15 seats so I waited until the Advance on sale date and got ones I wanted. They could of course have been returns or the result of rejected card payments or the like. |
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Post by showgirl on May 5, 2017 17:27:52 GMT
Thank you both, Ade and theatremonkey.com. I think the lesson for me is that if it happens again - which I fervently hope it doesn't - I will try again when the next level of booking opens. There I was, feeling sorry for those booking today who would find that some productions were already sold out (e.g. Mosquitoes, which I was unable to book), only to find that in some instances they have fared better than I did - and despite forking out the £80 for the privilege, too!
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2017 17:51:55 GMT
Woo, I got tickets to Follies. Back row of the balcony, but central, and I don't think there's a bad seat in that theatre. I'm really really excited!
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Post by Latecomer on May 5, 2017 17:59:00 GMT
I'm confused now: does anyone please know for sure whether the NT does hold back some £15 seats for public booking? Because if so, I'd have tried again this morning, having had a disastrous experience on Priority Members' booking day when the website froze so by the time I reached the booking stage, all the £15 seats appeared to have gone and I had to pay more or miss out. I tried again this morning and got 2 row C seats for £15 each, so yes, they did hold back some seats. Also checked another day and there was one available on that date. I was lucky with a low queue number...I quite like the random allocation as it does take the stress out of booking....you are either lucky or not! |
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Post by aine on May 5, 2017 18:40:46 GMT
I can't believe I missed getting decently priced tickets for this - I was flying home and couldn't get the wifi to work at the airport 😪 I'll either have to hope for returned tickets or pay for whatever's left😕
I just checked and all the dates say 'sold out' 😒
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Follies
May 5, 2017 19:24:58 GMT
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Post by Steffi on May 5, 2017 19:24:58 GMT
I can't believe I missed getting decently priced tickets for this - I was flying home and couldn't get the wifi to work at the airport 😪 I'll either have to hope for returned tickets or pay for whatever's left😕 I just checked and all the dates say 'sold out' 😒 I just had a look and most dates showed as "limited availability" to me apart from previews. |
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2017 19:26:24 GMT
What does annoy me are those who pay for membership at high levels and who then try to hoover up cheaper tickets to compensate. They are cheap so that they can be afforded by those who might not be able to afford them, not to offset paying for membership.
I'd be happier if theatres only put such discounted tickets on general sale, not to members.
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Post by michalnowicki on May 5, 2017 19:50:37 GMT
And I'm just happy I can get a ticket. At any price. Living in Scotland, I treat going to London to see a show as a privilege, not a right. I think it would be lovely if everyone was able to get a £15 ticket to every show and for any seat, but it's not a world we live in.
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Post by palace on May 5, 2017 20:14:59 GMT
By secondary ticketing do you mean ticket sellers like See Tickets and Ticketmaster? They don't sell tickets for this show. If they did, the booking fee isn't that high. Get Me In, Stubhub, Viagogo and the like could sell them but their prices would be really high and it wold be the elite who would end up paying a lot more than being a member of the NT. Therefore, the system works very well for the members and the NT but it doesn't for the non member and your argument fails. No, "secondary ticketing" means Get Me In and those outlets. See and Ticketmaster are primary ticketing outlets - official agents who may or may not have allocations. A little tip for newcomers to the board is to Google a term if you are not sure of it, it can help before replying  . So it is exactly my point. Those who can afford it can - and do - use them and access the best seats that way. ^ That's what you said. If members did not pay a fee to the NT, they could pay secondary outlets and the plebs could still book through See Tickets, Ticketmaster or the theatre box office and pay a reasonable booking fee. The point is; it would only be a question of booking as quickly as possible when tickets became available. When it came to buying tickets, everyone would be equal. Eg. When I booked tickets for Gypsy it was a question of - First come, first served. Now to see something at the NT, I'm relegated to booking after the elite have had first choice. The membership fee is a nice little earner for the NT and in return it gives preferential treatment to its members. That's not a policy I agree with for The NT - a subsidised organisation and a charity. What an interesting production this must have been.  |
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Follies
May 5, 2017 20:25:33 GMT
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Post by mrbarnaby on May 5, 2017 20:25:33 GMT
Oh yes nice one. Why not push for them to give free tickets to those that haven't paid out for a membership to get priority tickets? And a free programme too perhaps? What does annoy me are those who pay for membership at high levels and who then try to hoover up cheaper tickets to compensate. They are cheap so that they can be afforded by those who might not be able to afford them, not to offset paying for membership. I'd be happier if theatres only put such discounted tickets on general sale, not to members. |
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Post by aine on May 5, 2017 20:29:31 GMT
I can't believe I missed getting decently priced tickets for this - I was flying home and couldn't get the wifi to work at the airport 😪 I'll either have to hope for returned tickets or pay for whatever's left😕 I just checked and all the dates say 'sold out' 😒 I just had a look and most dates showed as "limited availability" to me apart from previews. I think it's the way my account is set up, I have one of those student accounts or whatever that get you the £5 tickets and £10 'mate rates' tickets |
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Post by Dawnstar on May 5, 2017 20:31:27 GMT
What does annoy me are those who pay for membership at high levels and who then try to hoover up cheaper tickets to compensate. They are cheap so that they can be afforded by those who might not be able to afford them, not to offset paying for membership. That certainly happens at the Royal Opera House, and is arguably more of an issue there as there are far fewer performances per production & much higher top prices than the National. Most of the perfomances of Follies, when I looked earlier this evening, still had a few tickets available at the £41-£65 region, which if you're desparate to see something is considerably more do-able than the £200+ that is often all that's available for the ROH a few hours after booking has opened. |
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Post by Latecomer on May 5, 2017 21:15:01 GMT
I think the point here may be that all the cheap tickets were NOT hoovered up by priority members, they held back some cheap tickets for advance booking and public booking. Plus there are always rush tickets the week before (that are very cheap!) and day tickets. And if you are young and poor there is a very good scheme for cheap tickets! Plus if the National gets a cheap ticket returned they always put it back on the website for sale!
The National get a good balance I think!
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2017 21:20:33 GMT
I think the point here may be that all the cheap tickets were NOT hoovered up by priority members, they held back some cheap tickets for advance booking and public booking. Plus there are always rush tickets the week before (that are very cheap!) and day tickets. And if you are young and poor there is a very good scheme for cheap tickets! Plus if the National gets a cheap ticket returned they always put it back on the website for sale! The National get a good balance I think! Yes, that is a point but the original gripe was that all the prime seats (i.e. the central stalls block) were sold before general booking. One compromise might be to hold back the whole house, or the left hand side, for general sale for certain performances? |
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Post by fossil on May 5, 2017 22:25:19 GMT
For those who missed out on good and/or affordable tickets, the season leaflet does mention for Follies that "Additional performances to be announced"
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Post by palace on May 5, 2017 23:46:27 GMT
No. What i said is that in any system, some will use what they have to get ahead of everyone else. As that is the case, the least worst option is that some good comes of it.In this case, the cash that would go to a tout instead at least stays in the theatre for their benefit. That helps us all, not just one tout. And, you deleted a point about a fair chance at Gypsy tickets. Actually, ATG card members got priority. Yes, yes market forces and all that and you were saying that the NT system was the best. BIB Best for who? In your opinion. Not for me and other non members. How does something that benefit the theatre help non members? The ticket prices might be slightly lower but it's not much use if the best seats are sold by the time the general public get their chance to purchase seats and the NT already receives subsidies. I booked for Gypsy and Funny Girl well after the priority nonsense was over. But I've had issues with ATG in the past and eventually managed to get some free tickets from them. ATG seem to be looking for any way no matter how dodgy to make a fast buck. So it's no surprise that they sell priority seats. However, other ticket sellers allow priority booking by simply registering interest online and then emailing when tickets are available and they don't charge more for the tickets. At least the NT haven't gone down the premium seat route. Some theatres have now introduced two levels into this category. Best seats are now at least 3rd best. Still, priority booking at the NT is not quite appropriate for a charity receiving subsidies and although you may not agree, that's my opinion. |
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Post by palace on May 5, 2017 23:51:34 GMT
I think the point here may be that all the cheap tickets were NOT hoovered up by priority members, they held back some cheap tickets for advance booking and public booking. Plus there are always rush tickets the week before (that are very cheap!) and day tickets. And if you are young and poor there is a very good scheme for cheap tickets! Plus if the National gets a cheap ticket returned they always put it back on the website for sale! The National get a good balance I think! Yes, that is a point but the original gripe was that all the prime seats (i.e. the central stalls block) were sold before general booking. One compromise might be to hold back the whole house, or the left hand side, for general sale for certain performances? What an excellent idea. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 6, 2017 5:37:48 GMT
Well what a huge eff up. The NT website sucks, their box office staff are apparently incompetent and nothing they said about booking a group with disabled access seats for one member of the party turned out to be true. So my friends aren't going and I've got a sh*tty single seat not on the aisle.
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