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UPDATED: Where to Find the Best Hidden West End Theatre Tickets Deals.
This article was updated in October 2023 to find you tickets for as little as 10p!
By: Aliya Al-Hassan May. 23, 2022
The cost of living is certainly biting and London theatre has a reputation for being excessively expensive. However, while it's perfectly possible to pay well over £325 to see Cabaret, you can also watch incredible theatre for a fraction of that price.
Most shows in the West End, as opposed to subsidised theatres like the National, use dynamic pricing models. This means that the more popular the show, the fewer tickets are available and the higher the prices go.
West End ticket prices have been steadily rising for years, but it is still possible to get some real bargains if you know where to look.
Here BroadwayWorld shows you where you can get ticket for a London show for as little as 10p!
How Can I Get Cheap Theatre Tickets?
Get Up Early for Ticket Deals
A top tip is to do your ticket shopping last minute and going to the box office in person can often yield brilliant results, especially if you ask specifically for 'day seats'. Either go as soon as the box office opens (usually 10am) or about half an hour before the show starts.
Sometimes if there are lots of seats remaining, prices will plummet for last-minute buyers, so pop along to the theatre and see what they can offer you. Even sold-out shows may have tickets returned on the day as people realise they can no longer make it, so it's always worth checking.
Deals for Opera and Ballet Tickets
Royal Opera House
from just £10! Photo Credit: ROH
Opera and ballet seem like unlikely mediums where you can find bargain tickets, but most performances at The Royal Opera House offer tickets which start at just £10! It also has a great initiative for getting last-minute tickets, even for sold-out events, called Friday Rush.
Friday Rush tickets are released every Friday at 1pm. When the timer counts down to 1pm each Friday during the Season, 49 new Friday Rush tickets are made available to buy for each of the performances listed at the bottom of the page.
If you're aged between 16-25, you can register with Young ROH, allowing you buy unsold tickets for Royal Ballet and Royal Opera productions at the bargain price of £25.
Tickets are also available for the Linbury Studio, a modern space in the basement of the Opera house. Tickets for performances here are much cheaper than the main stage.
The London Coliseum
The London Coliseum runs a scheme for under 21s so they can see any ENO performance completely free! If you're 5-15 years old, you can get two free opera tickets with each full-paying adult. If you're 16-20 years old, you can join the Under 21s membership scheme and get one free opera ticket per production for all ENO shows.
Tickets to all ENO operas and ENB ballets start from just £10.
The London Coliseum also runs an access scheme, which gives audiences with a disability or health condition the ability to buy half-price tickets to most shows.
Hidden West End Ticket Deals
Photo Credit: Helen Murray
Lyric Hammersmith
The Lyric Hammersmith runs a scheme called Free First Night, which gives people who live or work in Hammersmith and Fulham two free tickets to the first night of all Main House Lyric Productions and four free tickets for Lyric Pantos.
Barbican
For many productions the Barbican offers £10 day seats, available from the box office on the morning of the performance.
They also run the Young Barbican scheme where over 50,000 tickets across art, film, music, theatre and dance are offered for only £5, £10 or £15 for all 14-25 year olds.
Finborough Theatre
The small but perfectly-formed Finborough Theatre offer low price tickets for under 30s for the first week of a main show run, and for residents of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, on the first Saturday evening of each main run.
Pre-bookable concessions are also available for the following groups:
Children aged 16 and under
Students in full-time education
Jobseeker’s Allowance and low income benefits claimants
Disability Benefit claimants
Senior Citizens aged 60+and Equity, BECTU, MU and other entertainment union members in full benefit on Sunday matinees only.
Hampstead Theatre
If you are a student or under 30, Hampstead Theatre offers £10 tickets for every show and every performance, for both Main Stage and Downstairs productions.
Bridge Theatre
Young Bridge is a free scheme for those between 16 and 25. This gives you access to an exclusive allocation of £15 tickets for each performance and great offers for other regular discounted seats.
Young Bridge also gives you access to the Bridge7.50 scheme where you can purchase two tickets for just £7.50 each for selected Bridge Theatre shows.
Southwark Playhouse
The Southwark Playhouse offers a brilliant Pay-As-You-Go subscription where you pay £75 upfront for five tickets to any of their shows. You can use up to two of these tickets at a time, which saves up to 58%.
The Young Vic offers £15 tickets to over-60s for weekday matinee shows, and there are a number of £10 tickets for students and people aged 25 and under for every show.
They also run 'Lucky Dip' tickets for £10 that guarantee a standing spot, but you could be moved to a prime seated spot if last-minute seats become available.
They also sell the entire house for just £5 a ticket for the first preview of each Main House production.
The Old Vic
The Old Vic runs its ever-popular PWC Previews, for the first five previews of every show, where at least half the tickets are just £10. The online queue may take a while, but is always worth it.
Almeida Theatre
Islington's Almeida Theatre offers a wide range of concessions. Under 25s can grab a £5 ticket on select performances of each production. If you are aged 30 or under, over 65 or uneployed, you can book at a discounted rate. (Not applicable on Friday or Saturday evenings.)
Donmar
The Donmar runs a completely free ticket scheme for 16-25 year olds called Young + Free. Just sign up and 1000s of tickets are allocated by ballot, each season.
The venue also runs £10 standing tickets in the Circle, which can be purchased online subject to availability and when all seats are sold.
Royal Shakespeare Company
The RSC has a collaboration with TikTok for TikTok £10 tickets, a brand-new initiative to reach and inspire the next generation of theatre audiences and ensure that young people aged 14-25, full-time students and state schools can see RSC shows, such as the upcoming My Neighbour Totoro, for just £10.
Arcola Theatre
The Arcola run Pay What You Can Tuesdays for performances on Tuesday evenings. The average ticket spend is £5, but there are no restrictions; you simply pay what you can.
Pay What You Can tickets can only be purchased in person, from 6pm on the night of the performance. They are distributed on a first come, first served basis, and are limited to two per person.
With probably the cheapest theatre deal in London: The Royal Court start to sell standing tickets for just 10p from 6pm on the day of each performance.
The Royal Court has traditionally offered great value tickets on Mondays. It now operates Monday Tickets, a scheme where £12 tickets are released at 9am on the day, for that evening's shows. In addition, all seats in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs are £12 for Monday performances.
National Theatre
If you are aged between 16-25, you can get tickets to selected shows for either £5 or £10.
Shakespeare's Globe
If you're happy to stand and brave the elements completely uncovered then you can get one of the 700 £5 'Yard' tickets that are available for every performance. Be a groundling for the evening, but make sure you remember there is no roof, so you might need your waterproofs.
ATG Theatres
ATG theatres have a Local Heroes initiative that offers 25% off tickets prices to shows across the country exclusively for teachers, social care workers, prison officers, armed forces and 'blue light' professionals.
Theatre503
The diminutive pub theatre has some cracking tickets deals, such as Pay What You Choose (Wednesday 7:30pm & Saturday 2:30pm of the second week of the run), where you choose your ticket price; between just £5 and £20. Short runs, from 1 night to a week, are also just £12 a ticket.
Jermyn Street Theatre
This tiny gem of a theatre is situated in the heart of the West End, often showing incredible shows, with tickets from just £15. Concessions are available to under-30s, over 65's, theatre unions, anyone with access needs or in receipt of Universal Credit and students.
The Yard Theatre
The converted warehouse in Hackney Wick that is the Yard Theatre has a #NoEmptySeats scheme; anyone aged 27 and under can nab any unsold seat for just £5. You can take a chance on the door or you can send them a DM and they'll let you know if they have any going.
Shows With Great Tickets Deals
Disney Theatre Shows
DisneyTickets now have Magical Mondays, which offer the chance to purchase seats for participating Disney Shows, such as Frozen, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast for £29.50. Every Monday at noon, a number of tickets for that week's performances will be available for just £29.50, through the DisneyTickets website.
Witness For The Prosecution
This brilliant courtroom drama offers £25 tickets if you are under 26: Tuesday to Thursday performances only.
Harry Potter & The Cursed Child
Every week the smash hot show holds Friday Forty, where they release 40 tickets at £40 for the following week's performances.
The Phantom of the Opera
Set your alarm clocks; a limited number of great £30 day seats are released at 10am for the performance(s) that same day.
The Mousetrap
A limited number of Day Seats are available for every performance at £22.50 each. Day seats are released to buy online or in person at 10am Monday to Saturday. Ticket sales are strictly limited to two tickets per person.
Wicked
Every Wednesday at 10am, Wicked’s 24 Front Row seats are available online for all performances in the following week (Tuesday-Sunday). Tickets are just £29.50 with no additional fees.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Every Friday at midday a limited number of £29 Bohemian Seats are released for the following week of performances.
Sign up and every Friday morning a link is emailed to you. If you click the link before midday, you will enter the virtual waiting room and once bookings open at 12pm (noon) you will be randomly assigned a place in a virtual queue.
Try Your Luck in A Ticket Lottery
Huge West End shows often have daily lotteries for incredibly low-priced tickets. Register online for the chance to see shows such as Hamilton for £10, or Matilda and Cabaret for £25!
Do you know any theatres offering brilliant ticket deals? Let us know!
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