JNC

I’m very excited to see Jewels for the first time tomorrow night ✨ looking forward to reading reviews!

Unless I’ve misunderstood looks like Manon is only just cheaper than DQ (assuming the seat banding splits stay the same) which is very disheartening and disappointing. DQ is a massive increase on previous prices (even more so than the just post lockdown pricing I think) and so I really do wonder if they are confident they can sell seats at these prices. I presume they wouldn’t want to share (and wouldn’t be obliged to) % of seats sold at discount for various performances? I’ve heard that opera costs more to stage than ballet but ballet sells quicker/is more popular so I presume that’s why ballet at this point is “subsidising” opera. For me I’m less bothered about the top prices charged (there’s an element of sky’s the limit here for those who can afford it) but would like to see mid-amphi and sides (not slips) be under £50, not £60+. I don’t mind bigger jumps in pricing as long as there’s enough seats priced more fairly that aren’t restricted or right at the back of the amphi.

Just bumping this - if no takers I’ll return the Saturday ticket on Thursday.

this is a very welcome improvement, the previous system had an element of human error - if you booked multiple tickets under one booking reference, or had multiple tickets for one evening, there was a risk that the person processing it gets muddled up. This happened to me when they put back on sale an SCS ticket I had wanted to keep instead of the same performance at the matinee time despite me clearly stating the exact date, time, seat and amount for the ticket I wanted to return. ROH were apologetic when I pointed out the error and refunded me in full without the process fee rather than the exchanged credit. Luckily when I saw the email processing confirmation had returned the incorrect amount I was luckily able to immediately buy back my ticket that was incorrectly returned, but ever since then I have had a minor stress that this could happen again as it was sheer luck I reclaimed my ticket as ROH all but admitted if I hadn’t bought it back they wouldn’t have been able to give me my ticket back. So yes, this is where AI is a win over the humans! I definitely think humans need to be present and contactable but in this instance I think this is a step in the right direction. (we could always let ChatGPT write new articles for the programmes!!…Totally joking this would be horrendous!)

The “programmes” for Linbury theatre are poor. I think for the Tanowitz bill they wanted about £4 for what was essentially a piece of A3 paper folded up. I politely declined, I would have paid 50p or £1 perhaps but I really didn’t understand the logic of why on earth they were charging that much for something that should be free. For BRB2 there wasn’t even a programme, again it was a piece of folded paper for the whole of the new generations festival (at an equally silly price). I found this odd as something I’d read on the other threads here implied that for performances in other venues they had a proper programme. I wonder if that was the case, whether ROH a prohibited them selling their “own” programme - only to be replaced by a lacklustre piece of paper… Pre-Covid when I saw the Cunningham tribute at the Linbury, they provided a very nice small programme with information on each work and some photos. It was £6, so not great “value for money” if you consider the size/content to the main stage programmes, but still a nice and useful memory of an evening I enjoyed and so worthwhile I thought. It’s sad that since then they don’t seem to have bothered. Either create a proper programme that is more informative than a cast sheet and can be a proper keepsake/reference, or give people what is essentially the cast sheet free of charge, noting a smaller production run of paper due to the size of the Linbury. But don’t take the worst of both worlds and print out slips of paper charging extortionate prices! The staff themselves have appeared to be slightly embarrassed when I’ve enquired about programmes and told how much they are in the Linbury, I’m curious how many they actually sell!

I’m shocked they genuinely considered getting rid of programmes entirely! The environmental argument is silly - it’s a paid for product like a physical book or magazine, and something that is an easy profit spinner for ROH and an expectation from any theatre/show. If they didn’t have programmes they’d certainly be marking them out from the norm - in a bad way!

I think the ice cream supplier has changed since a few years ago (?) and I preferred the old one. I certainly don’t get it every time but a few months ago I thought I’d treat myself to salted caramel. I’m not sure if the server made a mistake or if there’s two versions of it, but it turned out to be a vegan ice cream. Some vegan ice cream can be nice (a sort of coconut milk flavour) but this was so horrid I binned it after one scoop. The programmes I agree are a missed opportunity. I would happily buy one each time even if I’ve seen the production before for new photos and articles, but recently they haven’t updated any articles and the photos are lacking or exact repeats of previous programmes. They appear to be getting thinner as well! Paris Opera charge 12 euros a programme but you get much more content and photos, with clear sections for synopsis, history of the ballet, articles, previous production photos and current rehearsal photos. ROH programmes are much better than ENB which are sorely lacking in content and photos, but could be much improved through easy wins like updating photos, always including rehearsal photos of new/debuting casts, and updating articles each time.

Not sure if this strictly belongs in this thread but it is a customer service theme! a few months ago I emailed the membership team enquiring when my membership was due to expire as I was considering cancellation and wanted to know the next steps in advance rather than risk getting locked in for 12 months. At this point I was still undecided about cancelling and noted it was for enquiry purposes only. they noted I could cancel my direct debit after 22 July and no further action was required. In fact the last email on the chain even notes I’ll get a renewal reminder in July and that if o wished to cancel it I could action it then! Fast forward to today and I’ve received an email saying that they’ve cancelled my direct debit and membership for me as per previous instruction! whilst on one hand I’m impressed they remembered/made a note and it saves me actioning anything as in the intervening months I had made up my mind to cancel my membership, on the other hand I’m a bit baffled and dare I say annoyed as my email was pretty explicit that I was emailing to enquire at the time, not asking them to action anything. There’s not much point me going back now to say these weren’t my instructions given it is the result I’m now happy with but if I had still been on the fence still they certainly would have pushed me off it with this! after the increased prices, poor communication, discounted offers only sent to some “friends” and not others, this is the cherry on the cake!

Friday ticket now taken, Saturday still available.

Friday 4 August 7.30pm SCS D36 £10 Saturday 5th matinee 1.30pm Amphitheatre H58 £41 please message me if interested!

Good point @Emeralds, I hope I’m not being harsh on the company and if I had unlimited time and money and lived in London I would definitely make a performance. I hope it sells well and if they perform a matinee somewhere I can get to that doesn’t require an overnight stay in future I would like to see them, I’ll keep an eye out.

Thanks Peter due to personal/work reasons it’s the two consecutive evenings for me so it is either two ENB or one ENB one Kyiv, hence why I’m interested if anyone has any insight into Kyiv. Thanks @SheilaC that’s really helpful. Based on what you’ve said I think I’ll stick with two ENB performances. I know I’ll love this bill (or at least one third of it!) so I think unless the Kyiv offering was great (both in quality and repertoire) I sense I’d be disappointed to have missed that for sake of something I prefer less. I’d be more tempted if they did Les Sylphides in full but if the dancing isn’t up to scratch it’s maybe moot (and thank you for your honesty on that, I don’t mean to twist what you’ve said but technique is important to me so I appreciate you noting this). It’s times like these I do miss living in London!

I noticed that Kyiv City Ballet are at Sadlers Wells Peacock theatre the same time as ENB are doing their mixed bill (main theatre) in September. https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/kyiv-city-ballet-a-tribute-to-peace/ I couldn’t find a thread on this and I’m intrigued at the prospect of seeing Les Sylphides (and excerpt but still) live, as well as some Ukrainian folk dancing. I was just wondering if anyone had seen them previously (there’s a thread where they were in York last year) and if they were any good? My dilemma is essentially I know I will love the ENB mixed bill and I was going to seize the opportunity to go to that twice (I’m in London two consecutive nights). I could give up one night of ENB to see this instead but I wonder if I’ll be disappointed, so just wondered if anyone had seen the Kyiv ballet or knew any more about their scheduled performances?

remind me how long we’ve had this “new” booking website (2 years?) and the problems that have recurred since then. I have little faith it will be resolved to be honest, it’s gone on for so long and they know people don’t have a choice as they hold the monopoly on booking tickets as it is…

I’m so looking forward to this. I haven’t seen theme and variations but it’s Balanchine so feels a safe bet. Whilst it’s not Nijinska, any Les noces feels like it will be at least interesting, if not good. And intrigued by four songs now as well. Such a promising bill! And credit for ENB for getting opera singers in as well rather than foregoing that or relying on a tape!

DQ pricing feels deliberately mean. for central amphi row P and the two rows behind (basically taking you to the back of the amphi) are £52! But then the six (?) rows in front are £67, so for £67 you sit much closer to the stage. If you can afford this, this is better value (the front rows, not the back of this band and not generally compared to previous prices!). It feels the prices are deliberately pushing people to either pay far more on the “value” point, or overpay to sit at the back or forcing people to restricted views. The proportion of rows within the bands feels just mean (far more rows at £67 than £52) and if you’re row N it’s just a terrible deal - £67 to sit that far back! it definitely feels more tactical than previously (where I felt there was generally the same number of rows give or take per band) in a malicious way. It feels like the expensive bands have creeped further up the sides as well - I think I sat towards the end of row L for around £34 for Beauty, this is £52 for DQ. By the time you get to row J it’s at £67 or above! I think it’s obvious much of the anger isn’t about price increases generally (although this is valid and part of it) but the tactical way they have moved around bands to squeeze more reasonable seats - people paying less to compromise on a non central view, or enlarging some bands while narrowing cheaper bands. I don’t understand why my ticket for jewels in row H is £41 and DQ are charging £67. (I know Australian ballet may have dictated pricing on this and they will have had sponsors support etc but it’s still costly to mount an international tour.) I won’t compromise on a restricted view for ballet, I’d rather just go less, which overall results in me spending less.

I don’t think you can get your money back (unless they cancel). however there is the paris opera bourse website where you can list tickets for resale. It’s not guaranteed but if you genuinely can’t make it you have nothing to lose, and given most performances sell out you have a good chance of reselling I would think. So similar to roh’s policy if within the 24 hours I think. One difference is you can choose to resell your ticket for a lower (not higher) value than you bought for, to further incentivise a sale if you feel this may be necessary/helpful.

I’m going through see ENB’s our voices bill and very much looking forward to that. unfortunately with the Linbury I’ve found it can be really difficult to get tickets when booking opens. If I lived in London I would be tempted to give lemons lemons lemons a go but I’m at the point where with trains and overnight stays for productions I’m not sure about I can’t afford to risk it. I’m lucky to live near Leeds so I’ll see Northern Ballet’s triple up in its “home”, and can’t see much else in the Linbury this season I’d be interested in (very keen for Sarasota but already predicting I won’t get a ticket).

Sorry to hear bad experiences. I had a very odd experience. First time, I just got a page with three grey (loading?) dots continuously flashing at me. It didn’t look hopeful (usually you get moved to the grey rectangle queue bar thing?) so I quickly tried the website on another device. The three grey loading dots near instantly disappeared and I proceeded to book for my only performance (!) this whole season - DQ for Osipova/Sambe. no queue at all which is very unusual, even if it is quick I usually always see the grey rectangle with the man, or the new page is the picture of the sofa? anyway I got my tickets and was about to check out, but curiously wondered if I should investigate the nutcracker to see if any scs (alas not for the one date I could potentially do). But then after showing me the seat map it proceeded to put me in a queue (the sofa picture) at which point I stopped playing around and checked out my DQ tickets before losing them (only back amphi but actually row P had sold more than usual I assume due to the fact you had to pay £70 odd for the next chunk in front…) So a mixed experience for me. I’m glad I wasn’t stuck on the grey loading dots page repetitively but odd I didn’t have to queue at all (and odd the grey dots were clearly meant to disappear quickly) meaning the website was likely playing up and not doing what it was meant to do (either blocking me entirely or proceeding me without any queue checks at all). it’ll be my last booking as a Friend, I’ll be cancelling my membership later this month before it renews and sending an email noting why (ticket prices, but this website stress doesn’t help, poor programming). The fact that I was only really interested in one programme for the whole season, but then due to price increases could only justify going to one performance means from June to December (and perhaps further depending on Manon casting) I will have visited ROH once, so I don’t think I go regularly enough now (partly location, partly prices) to justify a friends membership. If prices were favourable I would have maybe booked 1-2 more DQs and a nutcracker (for old times’ sake as I didn’t go last year!) but I can’t afford/justify it at these prices.

I’m not sure you can but I think I’ve read somewhere if you call the box office they can sort it? But yes I hate this system that penalises individuals!

The price increases overall is dispiriting. Whilst not completely justifiable, an argument could be made on inflationary and cuts/losses covid to justify. I would be more willing to try and understand and sympathise on a level if not for… what is completely unforgivable is for the more expensive tickets to have DECREASED at expense of the more reasonable/lower price ones! (I’m not talking about the overpriced restricted stalls circle seating discussed but the prime stalls seating) Clearly shows the ROH are trying to appease those with deeper pockets, or get some sort of stat to say “but our most expensive seats have only gone up by x%” without giving any thought to regulars, those with less financial means, those who don’t want to compromise on restricted views etc. It is only fair that the most expensive seats should rise proportionally, or more than proportionally than the cheaper seats to ensure fair access for all. There are those with very deep pockets who would be fine to pay £200 to sit in the stalls or a box, and if this “subsidises” keeping cheaper seats elsewhere that strategy should be implemented!

on the basis of this link, the exact same seat for DQ I sat in for the 2018 revival has doubled (£26 to £52). I don’t know what the stalls seats would have cost but surely more than £75 (current equivalent price is £150, so going by half of that..) Nothing clearer to me than ROH actively trying to price out those with less financial means. I’d known this for a while but even I am astonished at how obvious it is with this evidence. Hardly any seats at £36 or less - many restricted view - (and the £52 category is also quite proportionally small by number) so at a visual guess easily 2/3 seats at £67 or more. Horrendous. I will be cancelling my membership and noting this is a very disadvantaging strategy that I don’t support, and haven’t ever, but can no longer support via being a “friend”. Maybe they won’t care, perhaps they think all friends are rich! I used to invite many friends (not roh friends, just friends!) to the ballet, wanting to share my love for it and at £30 tickets for mid amphitheatre I often got people giving it a go and having a good night (and planning return visits, not always but sometimes) and remaking they thought the tickets were good value for money (not to be confused with cheap / underpriced). Now I’d be embarrassed to ask friends to pay £36 for a restricted view very far from the stage, and for first timers £52+ is a risk (I myself baulk a little at £52 but if I want to see a particular production or cast, I know what I’m getting in for). If I’m embarrassed to ask my friends to pay this, in a cost of living crisis, why is Roh asking me a “friend” to do so, on top of supporting them monthly! I dread to think of what swan lake pricing will be, and manon…I may not be able to go at all and save my money for Ashton and MacMillan, once only each.

you may be surprised, it’s a lot to stand, even for younger people they are put off particularly if not regulars I think. The central SCS have unrestricted views but the majority round the sides, you start to get light fixtures (?) sort of blocking the top view and then miss thirds of the stage on either side (depending whether you are left or right). Putting aside whether £26 for a standing ticket is fair (which I don’t think it is…) there’s the main issue of the proportionate increase - deliberating taking good value tickets from regulars (and those generally not wealthy…). At a push I may pay £26 for a central standing ticket (mainly as I feel priced out of the amphi now!) but for the side scs, it’s really not acceptable - restricted views and standing is not £26. The fact I paid £27 (£1 more) to sit in a good central amphi seat (row P, bang centre) only 4 years ago for this exact ballet is mind boggling and really sad to see where ROH have gone with price gouging. Of course I’m sure the £26 tickets will sell, and this will embolden them to raise other scs prices! can anyone tell me what row P (central) is this time round please? It doesn’t seem to be showing up on the pricing map (I’m on my phone). Looking at the map everything from H to N is the same which feels pretty rubbish if you’re in Row N as you are visibly much further away than row H which is actually not so bad. The bandings do look too odd/wide to me so hopefully they are adjusted more specifically and priced accordingly. I was highly likely to cancel my friends membership for next year (a combination of growing prices, and reflecting my tastes in programming not being reflected as much as I would like, I was looking at really only booking one show per season, and only one performance due to price rises with an exception for ashton perhaps - autumn, DQ, winter - manon, spring - MacMillan bill, potentially swan lake if dates/casting aligns and I can afford it (!) summer - ashton x2 (and Sarasota if any tickets available!) - but now I will certainly be cancelling and providing feedback that the increased ticket prices mean I simply cannot afford friends membership even if I reduce how much I go, particularly as it’s the cheaper seats that have been hit (the proportion of tickets available under £40 is frankly dire). I liked the friends priority booking and feeling like I supported roh but why would I support and organisation that clearly is trying to price me out of attending? I thought ROH couldn’t disappoint me more and here we are…

SCS £26!! Why? I really hope this is a bizarre one off error and not a new trend.

hopefully she can dance the remaining 3!! She is a wonderful dancer.