Buying Your Theatre Tickets on a Budget

We generally steer clear of buying theatre tickets from reselling websites as most allow tickets to be resold at any price. Twickets however, is an ethical fan-to-fan marketplace that caps prices at face-value, and is endorsed by many theatres in London including LW Theatres - who own several West End venues.

This is usually the first place we look when we're booking tickets to see a show, as there are often some real bargains to be found. Many people will sell their unwanted tickets for much less than the price they paid, especially as the performance approaches, and you can even bid on some tickets to get them at an even better price. Even though Twickets add a booking fee of 10-15% on every listing, you'll still find many tickets for under half their original price.

Ticket prices in London are driven by a demand. Popular times, such as weekends or holidays will see increased demand and therefore higher ticket prices. If you are on a limited budget, then the simplest option is to see a show during quieter times. January and February are by far the best months to grab some cheap tickets to shows, especially during the middle of a week.

You can often find heavily discounted tickets for shows, even some of the more popular ones, and you can even find some good seats for well under 50% of their peak pricing. Furthermore, if you buy your tickets last-minute, or take advantage of one of the promotional events during this time, you can really find some fantastic deals (the next two sections dive deeper into this).

If you are unable to visit during these months, or are limited to weekends only, there are still some good options for you. Click below to read more about the best times to visit, and how you can save during peak periods.

Buying your tickets on the day of a performance is a fantastic option, and one we use all the time. Official London Theatre (often referred to as TKTS) is a not-for-profit website that has some amazing deals for many of the top West-End and Off-West End shows in London, that often has 40% discounted tickets on shows struggling to fill their theatres on the day of a performance.

Although they so also offer discounts during peak periods, there are many more options during off-peak times, so you won't have trouble getting tickets if you're not bothered about seeing a particular show. Official London Theatre also have a TKTS booth in Leicester Square, which is great if you want some advice on what to watch. To learn more, check our guide.

You can see which shows usually have TKTS seats available from our Show Search page, although this does change from time to time. Just look for the TKTS symbol.

There are several annual schemes devised by Society of Ticket Agents to help encourage people to visit the theatre during quieter periods. London Theatre Week is the most well-known of these, but there are a few others that generally run outside of the busier months. You can find many great value budget, mid-range or even premium seating for a lot less than you would normally pay.

Ticket prices in London will generally increase as performances approach. While this isn't strictly true for all shows at all times, it's certainly true for the more popular shows. If you do have your heart set on a particular musical or play that is proving difficult to find cheap seats for, then booking ahead will often save you a decent amount.

Some shows will actually have specific schemes to incentivise people to buy early. Early bird deals will differ for each show that has them, but some will save you well over 50% off the standard asking price when a show approaches.

Look out for the EARLY pill to find shows with such deals.

Many popular West End shows have further incentives to help fill seats. Rush and Day tickets are released every morning of a performance, and are your chance to snatch some tickets for between £15 and £30. They're both a fastest-finger-first race to see who can tap of the promotional button first, so while you are certainly not guaranteed to beat the others, they're definitely worth a shot. Read our guide for tips on beating others to the rush.

You can search for rush and day tickets by looking for the RUSH and DAY pills on our show search.

Lotteries on the other hand, are usually a weekly event that you simply need to fill in your details and enter. Tickets are available for every performance for the show, and if you win, you will only have to pay a fraction of the standard price. One important thing to note here, is that winning a lottery does not guarantee you a ticket. You still need to be quick and finalise the purchase before everyone else, although (depending on the show) it's not nearly as manic as the Rush tickets.

You can search for lottery tickets by looking for the LOTY pill on our show search.

The simplest way to get cheap seats for a show is to go for the cheap seats. Usually located to the back of the house, or to the extreme ends of a row, you can see a show for a fraction of the cost of the premium seats.

Some shows do tend to sell out of budget seats sooner than others, especially if the show has a limited run. Peak performance budget seating for some shows can sell out months in advance, so you'll need to be extra early for these.

Previews are a great way to get into top shows before they officially launch. Most new shows in London will have a preview period, ranging from as little as 1 day to a few weeks. You can often grab substantially discounted tickets for these performances, although these seats will tend to sell out extremely fast, so you'll need to have your wits about you.

You can look for shows that currently have previews by searching for the PREV pill on our Show Search page.

To be honest, the West End is not great when it comes to finding cheap children's tickets. Not a single West End show offers discounted rates for children, although there are a handful of shows where to can buy Family FAM tickets instead (you can filter these on our Show Search page).

There are some Off-West End shows that do have discounts for children, with the National Theatre being the best of these. Again, you usually need to be quick to snap these up before others do.

However, there is a saving grace. Kid's Week is an annual scheme which usually runs through the month of August, and gives one child free entry to selected shows, and a further 2 more 50% off, although you do need a full-price paying adult for each.

Going to the theatre with a crowd is one of the best ways to see a show — mostly because it's much kinder to your wallet! Although 'groups' usually mean 10 or more people, some shows offer deals for smaller groups of 6 or more, and while discounts for smaller groups are less favourable, they will still land you a nice saving of around 20% - 30% per ticket.

Some shows will limit group rates to off-peak only, and will only allocate a certain number of groups tickets per performance, so it's advisable to book well ahead for these, especially for the more popular shows. Even though some shows will allow you to book group tickets direct from their official website, most will use agencies that require you to complete a form before confirming they're available.

You can search for shows with group discounts from our Show Search page - just look for the GRP symbol, although you can find group tickets for almost all shows in London by going direct to an agency such as Group Line.

Seat filling websites are a way for shows which are really struggling to sell tickets to virtually give them away for nothing. The worst thing for a show to experience is a to perform in front of a half empty theatre, so seat filling sites will give away seats to help fill up a struggling show and give it a better atmosphere.

These offer seats for not only theatres, but all types of events such as concerts, comedy, sport and films. While the seats themselves are usually free, they do charge a small commission. The only thing they ask of you is that you don't tell anyone how much (or little) you paid!

If you're in London during June, there is a entirely free event that takes place at Trafalgar Square each year. West End Live runs for 2 days over a weekend, and is used to showcase West End musicals. Almost every West End musical will use this to help promote their show, performing at least one song on the Saturday or Sunday.

The performances will start at either 10 or 11 am, but it is strongly advised that you join the queue a few hours beforehand, since it's a non-ticketed event and once they've reached full capacity, you won't get in.