How to get cheap theatre tickets

Before booking, benchmark prices direct from the theatre, then check for discounts

When booking tickets online, watch out for many sites' ridiculous booking fees. For example, we've seen Ticketmaster add an eye-watering £16.25 fee per £82.50 ticket, even if you elect to pick them up at the box office yourself. So before you book, follow these steps:

Check the official site

You want to make sure you don't pay over the odds, so check either the theatre's own or the show-specific site and see what tickets are going for on there. This'll give you a benchmark to compare against.

Warning: Sites that slap on massive fees can rank higher in search engine results than official ones, so always double-check you've reached the right place.

Look online for reduced tickets

With so many seats to fill across the country, theatres frequently offer discounts to entice people in if a show isn't selling. These are typically available through ticket agents and not at theatres themselves.

Decent sites to monitor for discounts include:

TodayTix, which is also an app – in the past we've seen up to 50% off Guys & Dolls, with tickets from £22.50.
Time Out London, which we've seen offering up to 57% off Flowers for Mrs Harris, with tickets from £15.
LoveTheatre, which previously had £12 tickets for various operas at the London Coliseum – do watch out for full-price tickets here though as they can add on lots of fees.
Stagedoor, an app collating reviews and offers for London shows. It also boasts the free Stagedoor Loyalty Card which gives you £10 off after you've made your first booking, then 5% off all future ones.
Little Bird often has family-friendly theatre deals (London or touring) that are the cheapest around for a limited time.
SeatPlan has a useful page dedicated to theatre discounts in certain cities across England and Scotland.

While these sites also sell full-price tickets, you can often grab a bargain. Though as always, before buying from a seller you don't recognise, check reviews on a site such as Trustpilot to make sure it's legit.

See if you can save even more with special schemes

Once you've found the cheapest price using the sites above, check if you can beat it with the tips in this guide. These include cheap tickets for under-30s, £5 Shakespeare's Globe tickets, £10-£15 West End ticket lotteries, top secret '£4' ticket schemes and how to bag cheap seats by queuing on the day.

Open to anything? Join '£4' ticket schemes

If you're happy to see whatever comes your way, consider signing up to super cheap ticket services – secretive organisations used to fill up shows that aren't selling well or need a full audience for a particular performance. Unfortunately, most seat-filling sites cover London only, but it can still be worth joining if you make occasional trips to the West End.

These tickets aren't totally free as you usually pay the company £2.50 to £7 per ticket to cover admin costs, plus in some cases an annual membership. But in general they're a lot cheaper than buying from the theatre itself. Popular shows sell out fast, and some have different levels of membership where the people who go the most get access to bigger shows first.

Many only accept new members during small windows a few times a year, so check back regularly if applications are currently closed – chances are they'll reopen at a later date.

Here are some of the more popular ones we've tried:

Central Tickets – An MSE HQ favourite. Tickets are usually £4 to £6.50 each (certain events may cost more) and there's a wide range on offer. Also sells non-discounted tickets which don't tend to be the best deals. It's strongly London-focussed but there are a few offerings elsewhere across the UK. It also has a handy app.
Masterclass – For 16 to 30-year-olds, it offers West End show tickets for £5, as well as completely free workshops with actors, writers and directors. London only.
ShowFilmFirst – Charges £2.50 or more per ticket. It often features regional theatres - keep an eye on your emails to grab the best deals.
Audience Club – There's a £5 annual membership fee, then it's £4.50 per ticket. In the past we've seen an offer that allows past members to renew for free for three months. Gives access to more popular shows the more you see. Blue Light Card members can bag a year's free membership. London only.

Make sure you don't brag about your cheap tickets when you're at the theatre, as all the schemes ask you to be discreet about them. Often you'll also be asked to leave a review of the show you've seen. For more on free ticket schemes, see MSE Jenny's blog.

Buy cheaper 'rush' tickets with dedicated schemes

As well as offering discounts if a show isn't selling out, some theatres and production companies have cheap ticket schemes for certain performances, or promise to offer a certain number of tickets for £10 or £15 each.

Some hold back cheap tickets for the day of the performance, sold on a first-come, first-served basis online or at the box office (also known as 'rush' tickets).

How it works varies between theatres, but to give you an idea, here are some of the theatre-specific schemes we've checked out:

The National Theatre in London offers a limited number of 'Friday Rush' tickets for £10 when you book online, usually at 1pm on Fridays.
Southwark Playhouse in London has a 'pay-as-you-go' scheme, where you can buy a pack of five tickets for £75 (so £15 per ticket) to be used for most of its shows. You can use it to buy two tickets for one performance if you want to take someone else.
Disney Magical Mondays offers tickets for participating Disney shows for £29.50. A limited number of tickets become available on Mondays at 12pm (midday) for that week's performances. You'll need a Disney account (it's free to register).
Royal Court Theatre in London, operates 'Monday Tickets', released each week at 9am for that evening's show. Expect to pay £12 or thereabouts.
Young Vic in London often sells 'lucky dip' tickets online in advance for £12. You don't find out whether you'll be sitting or standing until just before the performance begins, but 90% of the times we've tried it, we've got a seat.
RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) offers 'rush tickets' for two of its theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon. A limited number of £10 or £25 tickets go on sale on Fridays from 12pm (midday) to 12am (midnight).
Shakespeare's Globe in London runs a '£5 rush' scheme– a chance to access its ‘Groundling’ (standing) tickets closer to the day of the performance, even for sold-out shows. Every Friday at 11am, a limited number are released online for the following week’s performances. (See more about Globe ‘Groundling’ tickets below.)

These are just some of the schemes available, so if there's a theatre you've got your eye on it's worth checking with it to see if it's got anything similar.

Can you bag £30 tickets for MJ The Musical, Starlight Express & more on the TodayTix app?

The free TodayTix app (iOS or Android) offers regular chances to purchase 'rush' tickets for same-day performances. These are typically decent seats (often in the Stalls) at a discounted price, eg, £30. You'll need to register or log in to the app, set an alert via the show page and then be ready to pounce once they become available. Seats are automatically allocated but you'll be able to see what they are before you pay.

Technically, 'first come, first served' is the name of the game with TodayTix rush tickets. However, in the past we failed to get tickets when they first became available, yet got lucky when we checked back half an hour later. We've even heard of this working five or more hours later.

There are some Olivier Award-winning shows available via TodayTix rush right now...

MJ The Musical - £30
Starlight Express - £30
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - £29.50
Titanique - £30

Willing to chance your luck? Enter lotteries

If you're happy to gamble with your theatregoing, you could try entering some of the many lotteries out there.

Usually this involves going to the specific theatre and putting your name in a ballot, or entering online or via an app. This gives you a chance to 'win' discounted tickets for a show, at typically £10-£35.

Hamilton (West End, Broadway and various US cities) runs a dedicated lottery online and via its official app. Winners can buy up to two £10 tickets. Chances are slim – we've heard about people entering every day for years with no success, though a few lucky individuals have been successful multiple times.

Many lotteries are run via TodayTix, such as 'exceptional' Cabaret tickets for £25 and some of the best Harry Potter and the Cursed Child seats for £40 (in total for both parts). These are different to TodayTix rush tickets (mentioned above) – while rush tickets are rewarded to the fastest fingers, lotteries enter you into a draw and alert you if you've been successful. Learn more by visiting MSE Jenny's theatre lotteries blog.

Check the view from the seat before you buy

Before hitting 'buy' on those cheap seats you've found, you probably want to make sure you can watch the entire show in comfort and won't be stuck behind a pillar or with your knees jammed into the seat in front.

If you're wondering whether a seat's worth its price tag, you can check what sort of view you'd have at many major theatres with SeatPlan (UK-wide) or Theatremonkey (London only). These are packed with detailed info on views, legroom and more – cheaper seats are often further from the stage, or have a restricted view, so these can be useful tools to check what sort of experience you might have before you buy.

And now SeatPlan has gone a step further and released a handy round-up of analysis entitled Restricted view seats – the West End’s best kept secret, which draws on its wealth of seat ratings to unearth the hidden gems. A good example is some of the rear stalls seat of Les Misérables – they're discounted due to the circle overhang, but are consistently rated 5 stars, because only a couple of moments on top of the barricade in Act Two are actually obstructed.

If you’re flexible with dates, see a preview or go midweek for bargains

When a new show starts, it'll have a preview period before it opens to the press to give the company a chance to play in front of an audience and make tweaks. As these performances occur before a show officially opens, tickets are often cheaper too.

West End shows have been known to have half-price previews, but it's also worth checking upcoming productions on your local theatre's website to find out if the first few performances are marked as 'preview'. For example:

The Old Vic in London offers 'PwC £10 Previews': it sells at least half of all seats for the first five previews of every production for £10.
Young Vic, also in London, sells every seat of the first preview for £10. That applies to all its Main House productions.
Chichester Festival Theatre usually runs a preview period of four performances that are cheaper, but prices vary according to show.
Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre offers half-price tickets across all price bands for the first three or four performances.

Some theatres also make midweek performances cheaper, as these days are usually quieter than weekends, so if you can be flexible on dates, you could save a few quid.

Prepared to sit in the gods? The ticket’ll be cheaper and you might be upgraded

If you buy tickets for seats high up in the theatre, where they're cheapest, you can often be upgraded to better seats if the show isn't selling.

Again it's a gamble, as busy shows mean you'll be left at the top (not good if you suffer from vertigo), so it's not for everyone. But we employ this tactic a lot, always buying the cheap seats in the hope we'll get bumped up to better ones – and in big theatres at the less-oversubscribed shows it happens surprisingly often.

Yet it's still a good idea to check what sort of view you're likely to have using SeatPlan or Theatremonkey in case the gamble doesn't pay off.

Go off the beaten track with fringe shows

If you don't mind what you see, off-West End or fringe shows are usually cheaper, and you can find some real gems if you look hard enough. OffWestEnd, a website for independent theatres in London, lets you filter tickets by price bracket in £5 increments (eg, tickets under £10), or by 'pay what you want' schemes.

Look out for regular fringe theatre events throughout the year, such as Skipton Puppet Festival which descends on Yorkshire every other October, Northern Ireland's annual Outburst Queer Arts Festival which has previously offered 'pay what you can' if you're broke, or Brighton Fringe which attracts hundreds of thousands each year.

Hunt out a 'pay what you can' performance

As mentioned above, some theatres offer 'pay what you can' performances, where the price is up to you to decide. They'll usually be on a specific date in a show's run, and will have limited availability so you may need to book quick.

Theatres we've seen doing this include:

Happy to stand come rain or shine? Get Globe tickets for a fiver

One of the most famous theatres in London, the iconic Shakespeare's Globe also has one of the most attractive cheap ticket schemes.

If you're happy to stand and brave the elements completely uncovered then you can get one of 400 £5 'Groundling' tickets, available for every performance.

Not only are these a bargain, you're often right in the middle of the action with actors moving through the crowd as they perform. The smaller Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, part of the Globe complex, offers standing tickets from £5 for its productions as well.

These can be booked online, over the phone or at the box office.

See if you can get a concession or group rate

Unemployed, carer, registered disabled or booking for a large group? There could be a concession rate for you.

There are also heaps of initiatives for helping young people (under 26 in most cases) afford theatre tickets – so many that we've given this topic its own section below.

Here are some of the ways you might qualify for a concession rate:

Lots of theatres offer discounts for disabled people, so if you or your theatre-going buddy has a disability, it's always worth checking with the theatre before booking. You can usually get 50% discounts or a completely free ticket for your carer.

Most theatres should be able to accommodate any access requirements, and productions often have dedicated captioned, signed or relaxed performances.

See our 31 MoneySaving tips for disabled people for more suggestions.

Some theatres will try to entice nearby residents with cheap ticket offers. The Young Vic and the Almeida in London are known for offering a special discount for those who live in the neighbourhood, for example. Check your local theatre website or booking line before you buy.

There are representation initiatives that help make theatre accessible to demographics who might be less able, less inclined or less encouraged to attend theatre. A great example was Black Ticket Project, which fundraised to supply young black people with free or discounted theatre tickets. The company is now, sadly, dissolved.

But there's also Family First Nights (FFN) which is aimed at helping low-income families with children aged 3-17, allowing them to see West End shows for £8 per ticket.

Many theatres offer discounts for groups of eight to 10 people or more. You should find information about this on the theatre's official website. Group discounts might not always be possible when booking online – instead many theatres require you to call up to book.

It varies from theatre to theatre, but in some cases, those out of work are entitled to a concession on their ticket. This is the case for many of the main West End theatres, for instance. Check your local theatre's website or phone to find out if this applies.

Scheme Tickets for Good provides NHS and charity workers with free and discounted tickets to UK events. A booking fee (under £5) per ticket applies.

Tickets for Good (mentioned above) also runs The Ticket Bank, which secures free and discounted tickets for UK residents who've received Government cost of living payments. A booking fee (under £5) per ticket applies.

If you're registered disabled or a carer...

If you live near the theatre...

If you belong to an underrepresented demographic...

If you're booking for a large group...

If you're unemployed...

If you're an NHS worker...

If you've received cost of living payments...

Under 30? Join free schemes for cheap tickets

If you're under 26 (or under 30 at some theatres), you can nab cheap tickets through a plethora of schemes offering tickets to shows for rock-bottom prices.

Be ready to show your ID when you pick up the tickets – most schemes mention in their terms that ID is required, even if it isn't always enforced.

Off-West End and fringe theatres are much more likely to run a student discount scheme than the big West End venues. It's always worth asking at your local theatre if it does a deal for students or young people. Here are some of the cheap tickets available:

The South Bank venue offers £5 tickets to certain productions for anyone aged 16 to 18, or £10 tickets to those aged 19-25, through its 16-25 tickets scheme. With three separate theatre spaces, often with multiple shows in each, there's always something good to see, and the 16-25 scheme seats tend to be right at the front with great views of the stage.

Theatregoers under 30 can claim a theatre ticket for £7 at the Royal Exchange, but be aware that availability is limited.

You can get £12 tickets at the Young Vic if you're under 26, or a full-time student.

If the West End's more your thing, you can join education charity Go Live Theatre Projects (formerly Mousetrap Theatre Projects) which offers £7 tickets for various shows to 15 to 18-year-olds and £15 tickets for 19 to 24-year-olds.

For 25 to 29-year-olds there’s the Go Live Grads programme, which costs an annual £12.50 fee and offers top shows for £15.

For those who like a bit of the Bard, 16 to 25-year-olds and full-time students can see the Royal Shakespeare Company's shows in London for a tenner, or buy a 'Shakespeare Pass' to get five shows for £20.

This is a great way of seeing West End musical Matilda (which is an RSC show) for £10. But for this particular show, the discounted tickets are only available in person at the box office on the day, so you may end up queueing for a while.

There's also the initiative TikTok £10 Tickets, which lets 14 to 25-year-olds, full-time students and state schools register to see shows for £10.

Those aged 16 to 30 can bag tickets to pretty much anything at Chichester Festival Theatre for £5 through its Prologue scheme.

Sheffield Theatres offers £5 tickets for the majority of its shows for 16 to 26-year-olds.

The Swiss Cottage-based Hampstead Theatre offers £10 tickets for under-30s and students, for productions in both of its theatre spaces.

If aged 16 to 30 you could join Masterclass, another education charity based in the West End's Theatre Royal Haymarket. It has regular £5 ticket offers, as well as workshops and apprenticeships.

A free membership scheme at Belfast's The MAC known as '16=24' means that theatre-going youngsters can bag £5 tickets to selected shows. You'll need to fill in an online form and wait for your membership request to be approved (can take up to seven days) to receive a unique promo code.

The English National Opera (ENO) has a ticket scheme which lets under-21s go free, and it applies to all ENO opera performances on every level (stalls, dress circle, upper circle and balcony). Under-16s must be accompanied by a full paying adult. What's more, each paying adult can bring up to two children for free.

The Almeida makes £5 tickets available for every production for those aged 25 and under.

National Theatre, London – £5 or £10 tickets for under-26s

Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester – £7 tickets for under-30s

Young Vic, London – ticket offers for under-26s

Go Live Theatre Projects, London – ticket offers for under-30s

Royal Shakespeare Company – £5 tickets for under-26s

Chichester Festival Theatre – £5 tickets for under-31s

Sheffield Theatres – £5 tickets for under-27s

Hampstead Theatre, London – £10 tickets for under-30s

Masterclass, London – ticket offers for under-31s

The MAC, Belfast – £5 tickets for those aged 16-24

ENO, London – under-21s go free

Almeida Theatre, London – £5 tickets for under-26s

For all of the offers mentioned above, you generally need to be organised and buy tickets as soon as they go on sale as the schemes are popular and there are limited numbers available for each show.

Kids go free to West End shows during Kids Week

The misleadingly named Kids Week runs throughout the month of August every year. With every full-paying adult, a child can go completely free to about 45 top West End shows. In the past there have been 150,000+ tickets up for grabs, with 100,000 snapped up by midnight of day one.

With West End prices hardly the easiest on the wallet, Kids Week could save you anywhere between £15 and £90 depending on what you see.

Some might find the official Kids Week Facebook page useful. Here, theatre fans recommend shows and good value seats to one another the whole year round (not just during Kids Week).

Watch a theatre screening in your local cinema

A growing trend is screenings of theatrical productions, live or in 'encore' showings, at cinemas across the country.

These are typically cheaper than going to the theatre itself, and give you a close-up view of the action. Plus, if you don't live near the theatre you'll save on travel and accommodation if you go to your local picture house instead of trekking halfway across the country.

Past showings include Present Laughter which starred Andrew Scott, Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag and the Bridge Theatre's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

And if that sounds like too much effort, there are occasionally even ways to watch live-streamed plays from the comfort of your own living room. The play Good starring David Tennant is currently available on iPlayer, for example.

See a West End show without a shlep to the West End

Many shows that are destined for the West End tour the UK before arriving in London. These performances are often cheaper than they would be in the West End, with the added bonus that if you don't live in London you don't have to pay for travel and hotels on top.

There are also lots of West End shows that go out on tour across the UK after the London run finishes, or even while the West End production is still running. Shows that are currently touring include The Book of Mormon, Les Misérables and The Mousetrap.

You can keep track of which shows will soon be touring the UK using sites such as WhatsOnStage and British Theatre.

Get free or cheap tickets at Edinburgh Fringe

Go to Edinburgh in August and it's easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of theatre, comedy, music and more on offer at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

With thousands of shows to choose from and performances at all hours of the day and night, it can be easy to spend a fortune, so here are our top tips to cut your Edinburgh Fringe ticket costs:

See Free Fringe shows. With typical Fringe shows costing £5-£15, a way to save some ££s is to see some of the hundreds of shows that don't charge. The official Fringe programme lists many free shows, and see Free Fringe and Free Festival – though it's nice to chuck the performer(s) a few quid at the end of the show if you've enjoyed it.
Go to the Half Price Hut.This is an official booth selling up to half price tickets for shows that day or the following morning.
Join the Friends of the Fringe. Best if you're with someone else and plan to see a few shows, you can join the Fringe Society's membership scheme from £39. This gives you access to 2for1 tickets on a variety of shows – in the past more than 2,100 have participated.

Happy to queue? See if you can get a day seat from £5

Another cheaper option offered by many theatres is 'day seats'. These are tickets that theatres hold to be sold on the morning of the performance, which typically range from £5-£35 each.

Often seats are on the front row of the stalls or the best available, and you can usually get two tickets per person. You might have to pay in cash so it's best to phone the box office before you go to check – it'll also often have a good idea of the sort of times people start queueing from so you know when to get there.

Numbers are limited, with many shows having about 20 or fewer available. If it's a popular show you may have to start queuing as early as 7am (box offices often don't open till 10am Monday-Saturday and noon on Sundays, so wrap up warm).

For a decent list of current West End shows' day seat policies, see Theatremonkey's day seat finder.

Visit the TKTS booth for same-day ticket deals

If you're heading to the West End anyway, it's worth visiting the TKTS theatre ticket booth, which has stood in Leicester Square in one form or another since 1980. Run by Society of London Theatre, it's open every day of the week and offers a list of same-day London show deals.

As an added bonus, it's staffed by knowledgeable theatre buffs who can recommend shows and answer any other questions about your theatre trip. But if you can't go to the TKTS booth in person, deals are also available online these days.

Not able to queue? Check online for rush schemes

The TodayTix app also runs a lot of West End theatre 'rush' schemes – these are like day seats but you don't have to queue in person at the theatre. Instead, tickets become available in the app at 10am for that day's performance(s).

Tickets for popular shows sell out in seconds, so you'll need speedy fingers to nab 'em – though a trick if you miss out at first is to wait 10 minutes in case people don't buy the tickets they add to their baskets (as you only have this long to buy them).

Attend press nights for free as a volunteer reviewer

If you're not shy about speaking your mind and you're able to string a decent enough sentence together, you might like to try theatre reviewing.

There are lots of websites out there with volunteer writers on their books. Those writers are sent to press nights for free in return for a review of the show. Although most review sites don't pay, you could save hundreds in theatre tickets each month if you're a regular theatregoer.

The Upcoming covers London theatre from West End to fringe, as well as music, art, film, fashion and food. You can apply to join the team as a volunteer writer by sending some writing samples by email or online form.
Fringebiscuit began as a platform for reviewing Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows, but has since covered fringe theatre across the UK and US. Send an email if you'd like to be considered for a volunteer writing role.

Going to New York? Save money on Broadway shows

If you're heading to New York and want a theatre trip, top-price tickets can be $100s. But don't despair, there are plenty of ways to hunt out cheap tickets for Broadway shows, including lotteries and day seats.

For full info see our New York On A Budget guide.

Avoid touts and suspect ticket sellers

It's becoming less common, but hang around a theatre with a hot show on and you may well see someone selling tickets in hushed tones outside the front, often at huge markups. It goes without saying that it's a bad idea to buy tickets from these people as you could end up paying over the odds for seats, or in the worst case scenario be without any valid tickets at all.

secure tickets from authorised retailers (star.org.uk)

Another (more common) thing to avoid is non-authorised online ticket sellers. These often have huge booking fees and can charge much more than the face value of tickets.

If you want to buy tickets, in person or online, look for the STAR symbol. This shows that the seller is a member of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers and adheres to its code of practice, meaning you're better protected.

If you're in central London and want to head to a ticket booth, TKTS in Leicester Square is the best. It's run by the not-for-profit Society of London Theatre, and tends to have the lowest booking fee of any of the booths in the West End.

The tickets are normally half price with a £3 booking fee. If you pay full price for a show, it's a lower £1 booking fee.

While ticket touting (reselling tickets) isn't actually illegal, there are laws in place to protect buyers of secondary tickets. Ticket resellers must disclose the original price of the ticket and the nature of any connections they have with the event organiser or selling platform, among other things.

You are entitled to this information, and if it isn't forthcoming, the ticket reseller could be selling counterfeits, or simply not observing these laws while legally reselling.

In central London? Try the TKTS booth

Is touting illegal?

Browse Official London Theatre's 'New Year' sale

Official London Theatre's New Year sale begins at 10am on Thursday 16 November for those with a Mastercard (and 10am on Tuesday 21 November for everyone else). More than 40 top West End shows are available for £10 to £50, with no booking fees.

We'll have more details once the sale launches. In the past we've seen 100,000 tickets available at the sale's start, spread across shows such as Les Misérables, Matilda and Swan Lake.

Keep an eye on other theatre sales

Now on, ATG's January sale runs until 11.59pm on Friday 31 January. Discounted tickets start from £20 (plus £3.95 fee per order) for selected shows and theatres across the UK. We spotted £20 rear Stalls tickets for Boys From the Blackstuff at Theatre Royal Brighton and £30 Stalls seats for Here You Come Again - The New Dolly Parton Musical at Opera House Manchester.

Official London Theatre has launched its See It Live 2025 promotion, with £10-£60 tickets for selected performances of 50+ London West End shows, such as Disney's The Lion King, Mean Girls and Wicked. Read more in our £10 to £60 London theatre tickets deal write-up.

The LoveTheatre winter sale (London only) claims to offer 'up to 58% off' tickets. It doesn't specify an end date. Our spot checks didn't unearth any instances where LoveTheatre was the cheapest, but it's worth checking if there's something specific you want to see.

Grab a super-last-minute bargain – you could stand for 10p

A good way to get in for rock-bottom prices is to go to the box office an hour or less before the show is due to start. Though this is a slightly riskier way to bag a cheap ticket, as you could end up not seeing the show at all.

If there are unsold seats you can often get cut-price tickets as the theatre tries to fill any remaining gaps. Some theatres even have special last-minute offers in place – London’s Royal Court offers 10p standing tickets one hour before each performance in its Jerwood Downstairs space. Keep in mind that a show might last more than two hours with or without an interval, so you need to be comfortable remaining on your feet for the duration.

Last-minute bargains can be snagged online too. Although it's not advertised, many booking sites run dynamic pricing, which means tickets for a show tonight may be cheaper than the same seats on the same day of the week later in the month, since there's a more urgent need for theatres to fill those seats.

To see if we could find evidence of dynamic pricing in action, we compared same-day Monday tickets to Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre, against future Monday nights. We found seats C25 and C26 in the stalls cost £67.50 for that night's performance, but £87.50 for all future Monday night performances.

Look for a bargain on a ticket resale site

Fan-to-fan ticket resale site Twickets lets you sell or buy tickets to events, including theatre shows. In order to prevent gouging, Twickets caps prices and fees at face value. What's more, it claims its Buyer Protection covers buyers if the tickets they receive aren't as described.

Can’t find a discount? Go to the box office to save on fees

If you've a show in mind, can't find a discount but the venue's close by, the best plan of action is to go directly to the box office.~

This will bypass most fees, including booking or postage, though be aware many tickets include a 'restoration levy' in the price which goes towards the upkeep of the theatre – this'll be charged regardless of how you book.

What's more, be nice to the ticket office staff and you could even bag an upgrade. It goes without saying that you should always be polite when buying tickets (or indeed anything), but turning on some extra charm could even get you a bargain.

While box office staff can't give you freebies or massive discounts, they are sometimes able to pull some strings and give you a 'band A' seat at a 'band C' price, for example. Some ticket sellers have been known to throw in a couple of free drinks after having a good natter, so you never know what you could get by being nice.

Earn rewards for reviewing your seats

SeatPlan (also mentioned above as a seat-checking tool) has a rewards scheme you can join to earn 'theatre tokens'.

If you're a regular theatregoer it's definitely worth joining as you'll gradually accrue vouchers and can then spend them all at once if you'd like to. Sign up for free and you can earn up to 150 points for each photo you upload of the view from a seat.

You can then exchange your points for gift cards. For example:

2,400 points get you a £20 Theatre Tokens gift card
800 points gets you a (more limited) £10 SeatPlan gift card

Eat and drink at the theatre for less

Go to the kiosks and bars in venues themselves and you'll often find yourself paying through the nose for food and drink.

Prepare in advance to make sure you don't end up spending all the money you've saved booking tickets – pop to a supermarket on the way to the theatre and pick up some bargain sweets or soft drinks. Sadly we haven't found a way to keep ice cream from melting so if only that'll do for your interval treat, hope there's a newsagent nearby (or shell out at the venue on a fancy tub).

It's always worth checking on the theatre's website if they have rules about taking in snacks – while many theatres will let you, some of the bigger venues have stricter policies. For example, the Palace Theatre (currently showing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) conducts bag searches and says "food or drink purchased outside of the theatre will not be permitted inside the building".

Only want cast info? Save money on a programme and look online/pick up a free cast list

If you want to know who's in the show but can't face spending £5, £10 or even more on a programme, you can often find info about the show on the official website, or dedicated theatre sites such as WhatsOnStage and Official London Theatre (if you're in the capital).

Alternatively, some venues have handy cast lists in the foyer for free. Ask staff if you can't see any – they may be available on request.

If you've got a West End show coming up, the Twitter account WestEnd Understudies is a nifty tool for finding out if that performance is subject to any cast changes.

Watch live-streamed shows, including brand new writing

London's Southbank Centre has a programme of free live-streamed plays and events which can be watched via Zoom. Look for the 'FREE' tag. You'll need to book a ticket to reserve your slot.

The Bush Theatre's Monday Monologues comprises plays written and recorded during lockdown, making them a real snapshot of recent history. They're available to watch for free.

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical has been playing in the West End for over 1,000 performances, and every single one has been different, thanks to its troupe of quick-witted improvisers. Faced with an empty auditorium one night, they live-streamed a new show on Facebook. That show is still available to watch today and it might just be the cheerer-upper you need.

Watch Hamilton on Disney+

You can watch Tony Award-scooping musical Hamilton on Disney+, the streaming service from Disney. The filmed stage performance stars the original Broadway cast, including creator Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton.

Unfortunately the free Disney+ trial is no longer available. Its standard plan costs £8.99 per month or £89.90 for a year, though there's also a £4.99/month 'with ads' option. But that's pennies compared to a top-price ticket to see Hamilton in the West End, which can ran into the hundreds of pounds.

See our guide for more about watching TV & movies online.

Experience an immersive app-based show

Exciting things are happening via app – immersive shows that 'take place' in your own home and really push the boundaries of what theatre can be.

Pioneering theatre company Darkfield has a series of unique immersive audio shows, intended to be experienced from your home. The shows require earphones, a smartphone and, depending on the show, some simple household props. Last season, two tickets cost £10 plus a service fee. However, you can experience three of their audio shows completely free on BBC Sounds.

Listen to audio plays for free or cheap

There are a number of ways to listen to audio plays for free:

Bitter Pill Theatre used to run a playwriting competition as part of The Painkiller Project (it's currently on hiatus). The winning submissions have all been released as radio plays, and you can listen to them free on The Painkiller Podcast.
Wireless Theatre Company is offering a free one-year subscription that gives you unlimited downloads of its entire catalogue of audio plays. Most aren't well-known works, but there are some Shakespeare plays, a series narrated by Brian Blessed and Jo Brand, and a play featuring Stephen Fry.

A hidden gem, the 'binaural audio plays' section is optimised for earphone listening, with each ear receiving slightly different sound effects to create a feeling of immersion.
Audible has a number of audio plays included for free with its membership. It offers a month's free trial if you're not already a member (just remember to cancel if you don't want to continue, otherwise you'll be charged £7.99 a month).

Watch 770+ pre-recorded shows with a free Scenesaver subscription

Theatre streaming site Scenesaver offers a catalogue of over 770 pre-recorded shows from across the world which you can watch from home, including kids and foreign-language shows. There's an emphasis on fringe and Off-West End theatre, so you can be sure of discovering some gems you hadn't heard of. You'll need to register to watch but it's totally free.

As a fun extra touch, Scenesaver provides printable tickets, which you can present as a gift (at no expense) to a theatre lover. Right now, there's a dedicated Mother's Day one (below). Fill in the ticket and bestow it upon the recipient before you both settle onto the sofa for a night at the theatre.

A ticket reads: For an amazing mum, let's go to the theatre for Mother's Day... Any show of your choice

In this guide

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Including £4+ West End tickets, ticket lotteries & how to watch Hamilton from home