A Programme Also, Please

[Phantom of London]

Following on from our forum founder Burly Bear thread on 'a bottle of water please'.

I like to buy a programme and will buy then regardless of price, but begrudgingly. In America they are free and called Playbills, however ticket prices are more there.

Even though programmes cost here, on the odd occasion you get cracking well researched informative articles in there, especially the National Theatre, the Old Vic used to do an excellent one, but since Matthew Warchus has taken over these are becoming sub-standard.

The price of programmes seems to be going North and thought of starting this thread last night, when I was at my local Orchard Theatre, for Tell Me On A Sunday where I was surprised to be charged £5 for a brochure type programme.

At the Garrick for the plays at the Garrick they are asking a hefty £5, the Painkiller is identical to Red Velvet and The Winters Tale/Harlequinale in places.

For the pleasure of attending the Jamie Lloyd Season at the Trafalgar transformed they want £4.50, again with little content on cheap paper based product.

The biggest rip-off must be in musicals, where producers try and sell you a programme for the cast bio, but also want to sell you a brochure that has the song list in it. so if you was the cast bio and song list you have to buy both. Which means not only I have to shell out more cash it takes up more room in my ever growing collection, which I am running out of.

With charging more for programmes could this result in less money being collected, when a programme is sold at a cheaper price, you can sell more, therefore raise more money, so is this false economy?

[Stasia]

Mar 15, 2016 12:18:30 GMT Phantom of London said:

With charging more for programmes could this result in less money being collected, when a programme is sold at a cheaper price, you can sell more, therefore raise more money, so is this false economy?

I can't say if it works exactly the same in London and in Moscow, but here at home I am a friend of the ushers company. THey provide their service in the different theatres. And usually the theatres make contracts  with the cause "all the money you can make out of programmes are yours". I guess, it is still profitable to make prices higher. And I may suggest that performing one selling act and earning 10 x is easier for them than performing 10 selling acts and earning, say, 15x

[adrianics]

Literally all I care about in any given production is performer and understudy information, so I frankly resent having to pay £10 for a combined programme/souvenir brochure where 99% is stuff that will date very quickly and that I wasn't interested in to begin with.

As far as I'm concerned, the Playbill model (basic information for free, then you can pay extra for a brochure with pictures etc if you want to) is ideal and I really wish they'd adopt it in the West End.

[DuchessConstance]

I do highly appreciate theatres that give out free cast sheets.

[duncan]

Outside of the National, who does free cast sheets?

[Deleted]

Mar 15, 2016 13:26:42 GMT duncan said:

Outside of the National, who does free cast sheets?

Royal Court usually do.  I took one for Escaped Alone, though I also bought the play text.  Heaven knows why, as on reflection I am unlikely to read it, but it's just become a collection habit I have trouble breaking.

I did read the playtext for Enron a few years back though.

[Deleted]

The Royal Court playtext/programme is worth having comparatively though -especially given the cost of playtexts normally (only if you intend reading them though)

I bought a programme at the New Theatre in Cardiff last week for £3 which seemed like a bargain-even WMC are around the £5 plus mark now.

[stefy69]

The biggest recent rip off I have come across was the Elephant Man at TRH souvenir brochure at £10 for very very little content

[Snciole]

Bush and Finborough had inflation busting 'programme' and playtext for £4 (or perhaps £3.50) so there are still good deals to be had but unless I fancy an actor (I know...) I don't tend to buy programmes anymore.

[Deleted]

Mar 15, 2016 13:56:10 GMT Snciole said:

...unless I fancy an actor (I know...) I don't tend to buy programmes anymore.

This made me laugh, as I'm the same! Now I come home and Google the cast list!

[Deleted]

The RSC also does free cast lists. And I too will only buy a programme if I have a keen attachment to one of the performers (these days pretty much just John Heffernan, though I didn't get one for Macbeth so maybe my programme-buying days are finally over...).

[DuchessConstance]

The RSC and the Bush do free casts sheets, just off the top of my head.

[d'James]

I don't mind paying £4 for a programme, and most of the ones I've bought recently have been good value for money.

However, the one I bought last week for Hello, Norma Jeane at the Park Theatre was not good value at £3. However, I guess they've got to make a profit.

[mallardo]

I like Playbills not only because they're free but because they're all one size and they stack nicely on the shelf. These London programmes with their many shapes and sizes are a pain.

[alece10]

I like the NT programmes as they are good value for money with plenty of reading material for the journey home on the train.
Chichester Festival Theatre programmes are also great value for money
The most expensive normal programme (not a souvenir one) was when I went to see The Pyjama Game at the Shaftsbury and they wanted £8. I politely declined.
I don't actually like Playbills. I know they are free but there is very little info in them, the print is tiny and the ink comes off on your hands.
The most expensive programme I have even seen was years ago at the RAH. It was a charity concert called Liza and Friends in aid of McMillan Nurses and they were £100.

[Jon]

The RSC charged for £6 each for when Wolf Hall/Bring up the Bodies was the Aldwych for two separate programmes but only £4 for the King and Country programme which was three different shows, you wonder why for Wolf Hall, they didn't just the one programme.

[Deleted]

Mar 15, 2016 16:38:34 GMT Jon said:

The RSC charged for £6 each for when Wolf Hall/Bring up the Bodies was the Aldwych for two separate programmes but only £4 for the King and Country programme which was three different shows, you wonder why for Wolf Hall, they didn't just the one programme.

I assume that the reason is that, as several people explained in the thread above, the programme sales benefit the venue and not the show's producing company.

[Dawnstar]

Mar 15, 2016 13:26:42 GMT duncan said:

Outside of the National, who does free cast sheets?

The Royal Opera House and ENO. It's particularly useful for revivals when all the information in the programme apart from the cast details will probably be the same as it was for the previous run.

[kathryn]

Mar 15, 2016 12:18:30 GMT Phantom of London said:

With charging more for programmes could this result in less money being collected, when a programme is sold at a cheaper price, you can sell more, therefore raise more money, so is this false economy?

It depends how much they cost to produce. Not all programmes are created equal - some clearly cost a lot more to produce than others, some clearly raise far more money from advertising than others.

Playbills can't cost very much to produce at all - economies of scale come in to play because so many are produced - and must make money from advertising.

[Michael]

Tbh, I don't find £4 or £5 for a programme that expensive. If available, I always go for a programme instead of a souvenir brochure and bite the bullet if only the latter is available.

Free Playbills are nice, but I'm pretty sure that they're co-founded by the higher ticket costs on Broadway. So I'd always choose West End ticket prices and a non-free programme over Broadway ticket prices and free Playbills.

[Deleted]

Regional ones are outrageous. Around the £4/5 mark. Say you have a twenty page programme, you would lose fifteen to adverts for other shows, an introduction from the manager and marketing for local businesses.

[Deleted]

Another endorsement here for the NT programmes, which are sometimes more interesting than the plays - Light Shining in Buckinghamshire comes to mind... They've gone up a bit but still good value.

[Anniek]

I have to say. I usually don't buy programmes, but I only paid £5 for a beautiful Phantom souvenir brochure.. I thought that was a bargain really.

[peggs]

Mar 15, 2016 15:10:59 GMT @baemax said:

The RSC also does free cast lists. And I too will only buy a programme if I have a keen attachment to one of the performers (these days pretty much just John Heffernan, though I didn't get one for Macbeth so maybe my programme-buying days are finally over...).

I now don't buy a programme until the interval and then only if I'm really enjoying the show and/or don't have cast info from something else in another programme already. Sometimes I snap under a performance and buy one but generally then regret it as if it' taken me the whole production to decide it merits me buying it I'm quite likely to not still think that the morning after. Also more likely to buy those where the content is more than just a few headshots and a load of adverts, these days I go home with as many flyers as programmes.

[boybooshka]

I just can't not buy them, no matter the price. I love to browse through the collection every now and then. I work at a music venue and compared to the brochures you get on a lot of the bigger name and/or flashier tours most theatre programmes are cheaper/ better value for money.