Top theatre lotteries – how to grab £10 to £35 top seats for Paddington, Oliver!, Starlight Express, Hamilton and more West End shows

Many Paddington the Musical dates now start at £180, yet you could bag up to four £35 tickets to see the marmalade-loving bear on stage for just £35 each via its new ticket lottery. Normally priced at £65–£95, the lottery seats are in the stalls or dress circle.

Draws take place at 9am on the first Wednesday of every month, for the following month’s shows. The first draw’s on Wednesday 3 December, and winners will be able to book tickets for January 2026 performances.

Once you’ve signed up, you’re automatically entered each month – no need to re-enter. The cut-off is 9am each draw day.

How to enter: Go to the Paddington the Musical ticket lottery, register your details and opt in. If you win, you’ll get an email and have 24 hours to book. However, tickets are first come, first served, so you may wish to Peru-se seats early (geddit?).

A handful of tickets are available each week for £30 via the Oliver! lottery, with producers saying they're for 'great seats'.

Entries open at 12:01am each Friday and close at 10am on the following Thursday. Winners will be notified from 1pm on Thursdays and can buy up to four tickets.

How to enter: Head to the Oliver! ticket lottery and fill in your details during the entry window each week. If selected, you’ll receive notification on Thursday afternoon.

You’ll have two hours to bag £30 tickets. It’s first come, first served and we've heard tickets vanish faster than a silk handkerchief into Fagin’s pocket.

A limited number of Starlight Express tickets are up for grabs each week for just £30 via the show’s Loco Lottery. The producers say seats are among 'the best in the house', including spots in the first-class carriage section at this immersive theatre. When we checked, full-price seats in that section could hit £175, so this is a wheel-y good saving.

The draw opens each week for the following week’s performances, and you can bag up to four tickets.

How to enter: Sign up for the Loco Lottery. The draw takes place at midday on Thursdays. If you win, you’ll have 12 hours to claim.

What good is sitting alone in your room, when you can see Cabaret for £30? A number of 'exceptional' seats are up for grabs for every performance via a free-to-enter lottery, including some in tables at the front.

According to TodayTix, ticket values vary as seats are scattered around the theatre. You can double your odds of winning by hitting the share buttons for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram which appear after you submit your entry. 

How to enter: You need to download the TodayTix app. Just follow the link to register and select the dates you can attend.

The £30 lottery opens every Monday and closes 1pm on Wednesday for shows the following Monday to Saturday. It alerts winners by push notification, and they have just 30 minutes to claim – up to two tickets per winner.

Becky C tweeted us:

Want to be in the room where it happens? It's possible to bag £10 tickets for the mega-popular hip-hop musical based on the life of one of America's Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton. We've heard that many people have bagged seats in the front few rows of the stalls.

The number of lottery tickets varies by show, but you can double your chances by sharing the draw on Facebook or Twitter.

How to enter: The lottery runs via TodayTix – download the app and search Hamilton. It opens 12.01am Friday and closes 1pm Thursday, for performances the following Monday–Saturday.

Winners get an email and push notification (so make sure they’re switched on). You can buy up to two £10 tickets, but you’ve only 30 minutes to do it – so don’t throw away your shot.

Wingardium Levio-save! Every week, a generous 40 tickets at £40 are up for grabs for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – that’s £20 per part, for J.K. Rowling’s hit two-part play.

Seats vary but agent TodayTix, which runs the lottery, says they will 'always be some of the best seats in the house'. Top-price tickets normally cost up to £250 in total (£125 per part).

How to enter: Submit your entry on the TodayTix app. The lottery opens 12.01am Monday and closes 1pm Friday. Winners are notified between 1pm and 5pm Friday by email or push notification (so switch those on) and have just 30 minutes to claim. Each winner can buy up to two tickets per part.

Carol told us on Facebook:

The cult hit WW2 musical Operation Mincemeat has a £30 ticket lottery. Every other Friday, winners are chosen at random and contacted by email. If you’re picked, you get a link to buy a pair of £30 tickets, with 24 hours to use it.

Seats are first-come, first-served, and the offer applies to performances over the two weeks following each draw. Tickets often vanish quickly, so be ready to click. MSE Ciara and I landed cracking stalls row B seats with this deal.

How to enter: Head to the Operation Mincemeat £30 ticket lottery and submit your details. Winners are emailed after each fortnightly draw – and the best bit is you only need to sign up once to be entered every time.

Don't worry, this isn't one of Mr Wormwood's dodgy scams. Every week you can enter a lottery to bag Matilda tickets at £25 each for performances a week ahead. Winners get 'Band A' seats, which can reach a pricey £165 each at peak times.

How to enter: Visit the Matilda lottery and enter your details and preferred performances. After you've entered, it gives you the option to hit buttons to share on Facebook or Twitter to boost your chances. Tickets are drawn every Thursday for the following week.

Winners have 24 hours to book tickets. We've heard of many successes – for example, Kat told us on Facebook: