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Post by max on Sept 29, 2024 12:37:28 GMT
Seems ridiculous, but am I right that (unlike some other UK cities) there's no comprehensive Theatre Listings source in London, whether print or online?
I think this is a real problem for the health of London Theatre - particularly on the Fringe. A friend of mine disagrees, and says that today we just find out about stuff via Social Media.
Do Board members think it matters, or isn't really an issue?
I don't want to only be fed things that an algorithm thinks I'm already interested in. Where's the chance to discover through list browsing, as in the old days of City Limits and Time Out? The Evening Standard is now weekly on a Thursday - could they fill the gap left by Time Out?
Time Out is an absolute joke now when it comes to Listings, even in their attempt to list West End shows...
On its 'A-Z of West End Musicals' (https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/london-musicals) it lists:
A Face In The Crowd
Hadestown
The Lion King
Matilda
Mean Girls
MJ
Mrs Doubtfire
(coming soon: Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812)
Operation Mincemeat
Six
The one 'coming soon' listing raises confidence in the source of info - until you realise that apparently Hamilton, Les Miserables, and The Phantom Of the Opera are no longer playing....!
The Official London Theatre Guide can be relied upon of course for SOLT members' West End shows, and does include some Off West End venues like The Park, and Stratford East.
Was it Londontheatre.co.uk that used to carry pretty comprehensive Fringe Listings? They used to explain that they couldn't list one-nighters or very short runs, but otherwise did a good job for Fringe Theatre. Now what they list does include Off West End, but isn't searchable by A-Z or Venue, just by 'Most Popular' or 'Price Low to High' 'Price High to Low' like we're on Ebay. It seems to be all about selling tickets rather than imparting information in a one-stop shop.
Everything's shiny and digital, and ticket-selling, but pure information seems hard to come by.
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Post by aspieandy on Sept 29, 2024 12:59:43 GMT
It gets harder and harder to sell information.
Delmac, Nimax, etc, offer pretty comprehensive email updates. Obv, individual venues do.
I wondered once about setting up an app/email alert thing where you choose the names or venues of interest to you and you'd get a text when something was announced, or when the tickets were going on sale - 25p text or something. Surprising how many people seem to follow particular performers, a bit like bands.
Someone tell me there already is such a thing ..
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Post by n1david on Sept 29, 2024 14:19:15 GMT
At the risk of sending this off-topic, the cinema listings from Time Out are also a big loss - the ability to look by film and see all the cinemas where a film is playing was a great convenience. I find myself now having to search Curzon, Vue, Odeon, Picturehouse websites individually, and I miss many of the independents. I used to have a website that would consolidate this info, but then it went US-only. Does anyone know of one operating?
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Post by properjob on Sept 29, 2024 15:38:35 GMT
At the risk of sending this off-topic, the cinema listings from Time Out are also a big loss - the ability to look by film and see all the cinemas where a film is playing was a great convenience. I find myself now having to search Curzon, Vue, Odeon, Picturehouse websites individually, and I miss many of the independents. I used to have a website that would consolidate this info, but then it went US-only. Does anyone know of one operating? Google does this if you search for a film and select showings. Only problem I find is that it will only do it for cinemas where you are and I haven't found a way to look somewhere else. |
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Post by alece10 on Sept 29, 2024 16:45:30 GMT
There used to be a brochure with all the shows listed that you could pick up in the foyer of theatres and in some London pubs and restaurants but that was a very long time ago.
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Post by properjob on Sept 29, 2024 17:58:50 GMT
There used to be a brochure with all the shows listed that you could pick up in the foyer of theatres and in some London pubs and restaurants but that was a very long time ago. That's reminded there is a brochure every month from the booth in Leicester square and I assume other places but I think it is West End Only or probably SOLT members only as I assume they produce it. |
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Post by westendgirls on Sept 29, 2024 18:37:59 GMT
I have often picked up a monthly brochure when at The Other Palace which seems quite comprehensive and some good interviews too. Not sure if that is the one you are thinking of and I haven’t seen it available anywhere else
Agree that there needs to be more promotion of smaller shows otherwise no tickets are sold and they close. It’s a viscous circle
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Post by Dave B on Sept 29, 2024 20:46:35 GMT
there's no comprehensive Theatre Listings source in London I completely agree but I also think it is pretty much an impossible task. There must be hundreds of venues now and some with shows that only run for one or two performances so trying to list everything would be a fair old task. The only way I find out about smaller shows is social media but the slow death / increasing difficult of using or even justifying use of Twitter is making that harder.
Camden Fringe do 300+ shows in just under 30 venues I think it is over four weeks and they put a huge effort into their own listings mag just for those few weeks. Doing that constantly for five or six times (at least) the number of venues... sheesh.
I started my own listing what I was trying to track what was going to be Oliver eligible, since then I try to keep it up to date for SOLT venues for my own planing. Will give you the main venues by date or venue.
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Post by Paulw on Sept 29, 2024 21:30:00 GMT
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Post by Rory on Sept 29, 2024 21:42:46 GMT
I agree that this is a great resource. It's the one I refer to frequently but it doesn't include the Almeida and Hampstead unfortunately. The SOLT fortnightly guide is excellent for West End but I wish it included all of the main off West End theatres too (Donmar, Almeida, Hampstead, Royal Court, The Other Palace etc). I really miss the SOLT guide which used to be in the Sunday Times every week. |
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Post by pineapple4you on Sept 29, 2024 23:53:31 GMT
Doesn't "Musicals Magazine" have all the musicals performing in the West End, Broadway and some further listed in the back or have they stopped that? I haven't read it for a couple of issues.
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Post by Jan on Sept 30, 2024 7:05:08 GMT
This has always been a problem for fringe theatre and it still is.
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Post by viserys on Sept 30, 2024 7:20:39 GMT
I remember the old London Theatre Guide you could pick up and unfold to the size of a poster (I even seem to recall its very distinct smell, LOL). londontheatre.co.uk is still pretty good when it comes to a good overview. Having one page capturing all the small fringe venues seems a huge undertaking, though right now I'd appreciate it because I'm totally at a loss of what to fill the last free slot of my upcoming London trip with.
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Post by c4ndyc4ne on Sept 30, 2024 12:13:35 GMT
A few sites have them - TodayTix, London Theatre Direct, UKTW, WhatsOnStage - though all are quite hard to find and navigate.
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Post by BVM on Sept 30, 2024 13:28:01 GMT
I remember the old London Theatre Guide you could pick up and unfold to the size of a poster (I even seem to recall its very distinct smell, LOL). londontheatre.co.uk is still pretty good when it comes to a good overview. Having one page capturing all the small fringe venues seems a huge undertaking, though right now I'd appreciate it because I'm totally at a loss of what to fill the last free slot of my upcoming London trip with. I also used to love these. Reminds me of trips to London as a teenager, I'd always find one and go through with a fine tooth comb to find new and exciting musicals! |
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Post by usbuzzer on Sept 30, 2024 13:29:48 GMT
I happen to be working on a platform that would help with such a need. One of its goals is to help discover shows in selected locations (e.g. London) with some basic information and audience rating. There's many approaches to this, so if you have any specific needs in mind, feel free to share them and I'll happily take it into account  . A few points I got from the discussion above: - make sure to cover full scope of West End theatres to make users not feel the need to look elsewhere and feel confident about the information delivered - possibly include Off West End theatres - possibly include one-off theatre events - allow users to browse A-Z, not only via popular or highly rated shows - possibly following specific actors, creatives or theatres and be notified about new stuff - a newsletter that would weekly/monthly sum up the new entries Looking forward to more ideas! |
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Post by Dr Tom on Oct 1, 2024 8:37:02 GMT
There's also offwestend.com which is pretty good for fringe theatre listings. |
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