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best day to attend West End theater

Is there a best day of the week to attend a West End play with discount prices? The reason I am asking is because I looked at the tkts web site on a Monday and on a Wednesday. The Monday listings were fewer in number, the seat selections were fewer, and many ticket prices were not even discounted. On Wednesday there were more plays/musicals listed, more different seating sections for most plays, and significantly more discounts.
On the other side of the coin, are there days to avoid because of the lack of discounted seats?

Posted by
9098 posts

In general weekdays should have more availability at the discount ticket booth. But there are other factors at involved. If there happen to be a couple of large theaters that are closed between productions that means that are about 1000 fewer seats available on the west end overall and the other shows take up the slack and fill seats more easily. This happened to me my last trip to London, for an entire week the the TKTS booth had no discount tickets for sale, and only full price tickets for two shows: Spamalot and Shrek. It was very disappointing:(

Posted by
5310 posts

Tkts has been running a special promotion on Wednesday during July with more discounted tickets than usual which may have distorted things.

Posted by
11294 posts

In New York, there are not as many shows on Sunday night or Monday night as on the other nights. I don't know if that's true in London, but based on what you found, it might be. If there are fewer shows on a particular night, there can be more interest in the tickets for shows that are playing, so there is less need to discount them. Remember that discounts are only available when the show is having trouble filling seats at full price. (I've explained to many "puzzled" people that there are no discounts for Wicked or The Lion King on Broadway, despite their being almost 11 years old and almost 17 years old, respectively. That's because they still sell out - or come close - at every performance).