Boom-time for London’s theatres

Sell-out productions such as ‘Matilda The Musical’ and the growing popularity of plays, for which takings grew by 10%, have led to record box office sales at central London’s major commercial and subsidised theatres. In 2011 ticket sales by the 52 members of the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) reached £528m, a 3.1% increase on last year – though when this is adjusted to exclude VAT, which was at a higher rate in 2011, the increase in net revenue was 0.9%. A total of £88m of VAT receipts were paid to the Treasury. This is the eighth year running that box office records have been broken, with takings per performance among SOLT’s members reaching an average of over £29,000.

In contrast, the total number of theatre attenders fell by nearly 2% last year – a figure attributed by SOLT to several weeks when some theatres were closed to the public while new shows were installed. The average number of attendances per performance grew to 770, but has not quite reached the all-time high of 2009, when an average of 796 seats were booked per performance. Although there were marginally fewer new productions than in the previous two years (256 compared with 264 in 2010), several of the bigger London venues recorded major successes which made a significant contribution to the popularity of London theatre. Frankenstein was a total sell-out, with 36% of the audience being first-time bookers at the National Theatre, while a further 100,000 people worldwide watched the two National Theatre Live broadcasts; and English National Ballet’s Christmas season of The Nutcracker and Strictly Gershwin was the most successful in the Company’s history, selling 105,000 tickets over the six-week season and taking £3.8m at the box office, breaking the previous record of seats sold by almost 9%.

According to Richard Howle, Head of Ticketing for entertainment agency aka, the ongoing success of London theatre is a reflection of the outstanding quality of the shows that are drawing the crowds, and the work of subsidised theatre around the country in bringing that about is crucial. He told AP: “To create and produce shows for launch in commercial theatre is highly risky, and the West End relies on the strength of the subsidised sector in that respect. But the relationship goes both ways: when London theatre is successful the rest of the country can reap the benefits as shows go on tour. Theatre is also a very valuable export, and we probably don’t make enough noise about the significant contribution it makes.” International success continues to contribute to the fortunes of London theatre – last year ‘Mamma Mia’ become the first Western musical ever to be staged in the People’s Republic of China, in Chinese.

Effective marketing initiatives have also supported the upward revenue trends and helped to the combat any downward pressures from the prevailing economic gloom. A digital campaign for ‘Ghost the Musical’ led to over 120,000 song plays from the cast album on Facebook, and English National Opera’s award-winning free student and young person’s membership scheme, Access All Arias now has over 18,000 members. A partnership between aka and Tesco Clubcard scheme saw half a million pounds worth of tickets sold.