ROH seat prices

[bangorballetboy]

16 minutes ago, oncnp said:

That's what the box office told me when I asked. Only those who hadn't booked got offer

which seems eminently sensible to me

[Scheherezade]

19 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

which seems eminently sensible to me

 

Apart from the fact that it penalises those who might be tempted to buy a further, discounted ticket but might not be able to afford a second full price ticket.

[serenade]

5 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

 

Apart from the fact that it penalises those who might be tempted to buy a further, discounted ticket but might not be able to afford a second full price ticket.

I agree, I would have thought the fairest thing to do is send the offer to everyone on their mailing list.  They know that some fans will want to see more than one show if they can afford to.

[Diandri]

8 hours ago, Candleque said:

I want to thank @Diandri again for sharing this Sleeping Beauty code 🙏. Because of the discount, I was able to see Frankie + Alex this week, as well as Mayara + Cesar  (previously booked full price). I don't usually go two nights in a row so it was a real treat, plus a learning experience sitting in different areas to watch such a visually sumptuous show. 

If anyone has tips on how to get on these email lists, I'd be grateful.
(I'm a ROH Friend+ but have never ever gotten any ticket offers from them) 

 

Hi Candleque, glad you benefitted!! 

The offer email appeared to be a bog standard ROH email list as I stopped being a Friend a few years back & now only attend for specific ballets / casts. & oddly enough I'd booked for 3 shows of Mayerling recently in the grand tier. Being suspicious I'd say they targeted 'recent high spenders' in the hope that it would tempt bookings. It is poor form that they appear not to have included friends in the recipients & I'd be fascinated to know if a friend created a new email address & joined the ordinary mailing list whether it would result in better discount offers, if it did ROH have really turned to the dark side!!

[Peanut68]

Never ever had any offers of discounted tickets from ROH! Not a friend not purchase tickets for maybe 6-7 performances annually….offers could mean I’d be able to visit more & tempt me to book for the shows that I’m not immediately drawn to…

[alison]

I imagine the ROH's thinking is that they don't want to annoy people who have already booked by letting them know they could have waited and got a bargain later.

 

Seeing the seating prices for the second run of Sleeping Beauty - which it seems the system is treating as a completely separate production from the first run - I note there have been tweaks to some seat prices, and not for the better.  I'm now relieved I didn't query the discrepancy with them, because I feared the price might be adjusted upwards rather than downwards.

[Suffolkgal]

£51 for row M in the amphi, plus travel etc - only one cinders for me and then that’s it till the Autumn. I hope the programme then encourages me to spend more and risk the trains more! 

[JNC]

8 hours ago, alison said:

I imagine the ROH's thinking is that they don't want to annoy people who have already booked by letting them know they could have waited and got a bargain later.

 

Seeing the seating prices for the second run of Sleeping Beauty - which it seems the system is treating as a completely separate production from the first run - I note there have been tweaks to some seat prices, and not for the better.  I'm now relieved I didn't query the discrepancy with them, because I feared the price might be adjusted upwards rather than downwards.

it seems unfair to tweak prices for the different booking season as the casting is split. Another reason why I’m anti such long runs (split across more than one booking season). 

[Sophoife]

Australian Ballet has developed a sideline in discounted tickets. The week of performances they will suddenly advertise high-cost tickets at $99, a saving in some cases of over $200. Absolute slap in the face to subscribers, regular ticket buyers, and people who purchase tickets in advance as they have to make travel arrangements (transport and accommodation).

[alison]

Which probably backs up my suggestion as to why the roh doesn't send ticket offers to those who have already booked.

[Sophoife]

Oh, @alison, AusBallet not only emails all subscribers with these offers, the company also saturates its social media with them. Couldn't be a more obvious slap in the face to the subscribers, particularly.

[Guest oncnp]

 

2 hours ago, alison said:

Which probably backs up my suggestion as to why the roh doesn't send ticket offers to those who have already booked.

 

or, more likely in my opinion, the ROH marketing dept has no concept that some people see a production more than once. 

 

Revenue is revenue no matter where it comes from. An organization constantly pleading financial doom and gloom and who just dumped a sponsor, should be spreading its nets as wide as possible, 

[Scheherezade]

And let’s not forget it’s mission statement not all that long ago that it doesn’t want tickets going to the usual returnees. 

[Blossom]

To add a further dynamic to the conversation, did anyone read Richard Morrison’s article in the Times on Friday?

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-royal-opera-house-s-ditching-of-its-long-term-sponsor-bp-is-pure-hypocrisy-2n3vw6cs5

 

To quote a very small but pertinent couple of sentences which I assume is ok @mods 

 

‘The arts world should consider this: every time a sponsor is deemed not pure enough to pass muster, that’s another £10,000, £100,000 or several million that either has to be raised from ticket sales or begged from government. Ticket sales seem unlikely to rise much in the foreseeable future, so that leaves public subsidy as the only way of plugging the gap.’

 

Of course we then know how organisations like ROH suffer at the hands of ACE.

[MJW]

39 minutes ago, Blossom said:

To add a further dynamic to the conversation, did anyone read Richard Morrison’s article in the Times on Friday?

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-royal-opera-house-s-ditching-of-its-long-term-sponsor-bp-is-pure-hypocrisy-2n3vw6cs5

 

To quote a very small but pertinent couple of sentences which I assume is ok @mods 

 

‘The arts world should consider this: every time a sponsor is deemed not pure enough to pass muster, that’s another £10,000, £100,000 or several million that either has to be raised from ticket sales or begged from government. Ticket sales seem unlikely to rise much in the foreseeable future, so that leaves public subsidy as the only way of plugging the gap.’

 

Of course we then know how organisations like ROH suffer at the hands of ACE.

 

I can't access the full article but I certainly agree with the extract.

 

ROH is not the only arts organisation to have ditched BP and the British Museum  is under pressure to do so as well.

 

And this in today's Telegraph (firewall) - 

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/29/covent-garden-stick-opera-ballet-leave-preaching-extinction/

Edited January 29, 2023 by MJW
added link

[OnePigeon]

I despair of what’s happening to the Arts sector.  The people heading these institutions all seem to be of one mindset and it’s incredibly damaging, with a staunch uniformity of thought and political opinion that is not allowed to be challenged, despite the utter hypocrisy that is staring most people in the face.  How on earth they think dropping a major sponsor in this climate of arts cuts and austerity is a good idea, I just can’t understand.  Not taking money from a fossil fuel company seems like pure political gesturing and does nothing to actually help the environment.  Let’s hope they have an even bigger sponsor waiting in the wings to give them lots of funding so the seat prices can be reduced and people on lower incomes can actually afford to come and see their productions....I won’t hold my breath.

[capybara]

The ROH Board and the RB and RO must not lose sight of what their primary purposes are and, if the ever-rising ticket prices are anything to go by, they are already ‘teetering’ on the brink in some key respects.

[Suffolkgal]

The trope (hate that word but that’s what it would be called!) that people who attend regularly at arts events of whatever type are not really valued, or worth encouraging, exists and is so misguided. Britten Pears Arts ... aargh. It stems from a very foolish notion that people who regularly attend live performances are white, middle and upper class, whatever that means these days, and very well-off. The arrogance of that attitude is extraordinary. And patronising. There are undoubtedly well off people and corporate guests attending. There are far more people going without to attend, lovers of the arts and passionate supporters. The arts have always been supported by the wealthy. By we groundlings too. Look at your demographic, of course seek and encourage new audiences - but don’t forget those who may be the very ones doing the encouraging!

[FionaM]

Is the ROH now going to investigate and ditch all sponsors with questionable or objectionable origins of their money ???

 

That’s a very short route to complete shutdown.  Most money is made by questionable morals or exploitation somewhere.  
 

Perhaps an alternative route would be to get the questionable people to double-up their arts investment whilst also pressuring them to change.  

 

 

[Lizbie1]

I would like it to be an accepted norm that if the board of an arts organisation (or perhaps any charity) is to turn away money because they (and not the law) consider it tainted, that board will make up the sum involved out of their own pockets. Anything less is grandstanding.

[San Perregrino]

Predictions of doom and gloom aside, visions of an empty auditorium seem misplaced for now. Looking at Feb/March performances of Sleeping Beauty, several are sold out and others have ‘last few tickets remaining’. 

[postie]

Just another example of the extreme imbalance between a minority who cleverly use social media with multiplier effect, and the rest.

 

The campaign to drop BP, it's online, right?

 

Bit cold to be outside protesting at refineries, chaining themselves to delivery tankers at petrol stations, or a thousand other more direct forms of actions. Besides, their friends can't see how wonderful they are, and *like* their posts.

 

Media is completely complicit; 8 TV camera crews filming as two people throw paint over a painting. 50 people marching along Oxford Street in a 'mass protest', a highpoint in a week of front page news for Just Stop Oil.

 

In other news, it was gladenning to see sales of new electric cars have risen 40% in a year in the UK..

Edited January 29, 2023 by postie
bad maths

[Guest oncnp]

33 minutes ago, PeterS said:

Predictions of doom and gloom aside, visions of an empty auditorium seem misplaced for now. Looking at Feb/March performances of Sleeping Beauty, several are sold out and others have ‘last few tickets remaining’. 

 

Sold at full price or discounted/given away to make the numbers look better? We'll never know. 

 

Also noted that one of the Cinderellas (1 April matinee) is already < 75 seats available, although the seat map shows fewer than that. 

[Lizbie1]

21 minutes ago, oncnp said:

Also noted that one of the Cinderellas (1 April matinee) is already < 75 seats available, although the seat map shows fewer than that. 

 

I wonder if this is in part because (if memory serves) it's relatively unusual for Nunez/Muntagirov to be cast in a matinee. We out of towners have been quite poorly served in that respect!

[LinMM]

Nunez and Muntagirov are being filmed live for cinemas on April 12th. 

[OnePigeon]

1 hour ago, PeterS said:

Predictions of doom and gloom aside, visions of an empty auditorium seem misplaced for now. Looking at Feb/March performances of Sleeping Beauty, several are sold out and others have ‘last few tickets remaining’. 

It’s not so much that I fear there will be empty auditoriums, it’s that those of us who are passionate about the ballet or opera and whose lives are massively enhanced by attending live performances are getting pushed out of attending, especially at the RB.  Other companies or arts organisations, whist not perfect, at least have some offers available, such as cheaper tickets for children, or wild card tickets.  The Tate and other places offer discounts to those on Universal or pension credit.  The ROH only seem to value attracting young people.  I was attending the RB most of all in my 20s as this was the time I had some disposable income, no dependents and lived in London.  I resent the fact that a young professional in their 20s can go to the ROH at a discount whilst someone less than affluent, let alone a struggling single parent or pensioner, has to just go without.  If they decide to get rid of lucrative sponsors then we can guarantee that we will be priced out even further.  

[LinMM]

Well whatever you think of BP you could argue that at least some of their profits going to the Arts is at least one area that is not a bad use of their money. 

[alison]

I ask again, were BP actually still sponsoring anything? I don't remember seeing them mentioned in conjunction with anything other than the outdoor broadcasts, which we haven't had since pre-covid anyway.

[Guest oncnp]

2 minutes ago, alison said:

I ask again, were BP actually still sponsoring anything? I don't remember seeing them mentioned in conjunction with anything other than the outdoor broadcasts, which we haven't had since pre-covid anyway.

 

What we don't know is the nature of the BP support. If BP was supporting the ROH thorough COVID years it wasn't just for the outdoor broadcasts, since as you rightly point out they weren't happening. 

[art_enthusiast]

2 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

The ROH only seem to value attracting young people.  I was attending the RB most of all in my 20s as this was the time I had some disposable income, no dependents and lived in London.  I resent the fact that a young professional in their 20s can go to the ROH at a discount whilst someone less than affluent, let alone a struggling single parent or pensioner, has to just go without. 

I do agree with this, they should of course be rewarding long standing customers for their loyalty.
 

What I will say, as someone who has benefited from the young people scheme is that - a) don’t assume all young professionals in their early 20s are exceedingly wealthy. Times are much harder than they were for previous generations and we’re currently having to cope with a cost of living crisis and a world riddled with climate change, war, pandemics and other disasters (I won’t continue but you get the point).

 

And b) don’t assume we’re all from affluent backgrounds who were taken to ballet/opera regularly during childhood as most probably are not, it’s the first time for a lot of them - for me anyway. I contented myself with YouTube and my grandparents’ old Bolshoi/Fonteyn and Nureyev VHS tapes as a child. I’ve only been able to attend as a young adult, thanks to this scheme.
 

For example, I never went to the RB’s Nutcracker until I reached my twenties with a job - no Nutcracker performances are ever included in the youth scheme, so I paid full price for that. I also never attended a school that was part of the schools matinée program, unfortunately.

 

Speaking for myself, I believe that quite a lot of the young members of the ROH’s scheme are British citizens (or have lived here for a while, whatever) whose parents/grandparents have been paying their taxes for many years and supporting the UK arts in their own ways - I hope this is the case anyway. 
 

What I don’t approve is affluent young tourists from abroad using the offer if they’re just here to study/on holiday, and never intend to come back and support the UK arts in future. I suppose there’s no way of filtering them out unfortunately. 
 

Rest assured, deserving young people from low income backgrounds are appreciating it and intend to support the ROH and all other UK ballet companies as much as possible in future.

[MJW]

49 minutes ago, alison said:

I ask again, were BP actually still sponsoring anything? I don't remember seeing them mentioned in conjunction with anything other than the outdoor broadcasts, which we haven't had since pre-covid anyway.

 

If the BP-sponsorship was solely for the Big Screen performances and if they have now ended, surely ROH and BP could find something else to sponsor? A discount for performances (eg Travelex at the National Theatre). The list is endless!

[OnePigeon]

1 hour ago, art_enthusiast said:

I do agree with this, they should of course be rewarding long standing customers for their loyalty.
 

What I will say, as someone who has benefited from the young people scheme is that - a) don’t assume all young professionals in their early 20s are exceedingly wealthy. Times are much harder than they were for previous generations and we’re currently having to cope with a cost of living crisis and a world riddled with climate change, war, pandemics and other disasters (I won’t continue but you get the point).

 

And b) don’t assume we’re all from affluent backgrounds who were taken to ballet/opera regularly during childhood as most probably are not, it’s the first time for a lot of them - for me anyway. I contented myself with YouTube and my grandparents’ old Bolshoi/Fonteyn and Nureyev VHS tapes as a child. I’ve only been able to attend as a young adult, thanks to this scheme.
 

For example, I never went to the RB’s Nutcracker until I reached my twenties with a job - no Nutcracker performances are ever included in the youth scheme, so I paid full price for that. I also never attended a school that was part of the schools matinée program, unfortunately.

 

Speaking for myself, I believe that quite a lot of the young members of the ROH’s scheme are British citizens (or have lived here for a while, whatever) whose parents/grandparents have been paying their taxes for many years and supporting the UK arts in their own ways - I hope this is the case anyway. 
 

What I don’t approve is affluent young tourists from abroad using the offer if they’re just here to study/on holiday, and never intend to come back and support the UK arts in future. I suppose there’s no way of filtering them out unfortunately. 
 

Rest assured, deserving young people from low income backgrounds are appreciating it and intend to support the ROH and all other UK ballet companies as much as possible in future.

 

I think you’ve inferred a few sweeping assumptions about what I actually wrote and my criticism of the ROH and their pricing.  I have never assumed that all young professionals are wealthy or privileged or from affluent backgrounds and nowhere did I state this.  My illustration, as an example, was that a young professional 20 something - a lawyer, for example -  who lives in London is probably more able to afford tickets than a person on a minimum wage who lives outside the M25 and has to pay another £30 to get into London etc.  There was no schools programme or outreach scheme when I was younger and certainly no discount, but housing has been overpriced for a long time and certainly affected me and my generation.  I don’t wish to get into a cost of living crisis generation game olympics, I think anyone who isn’t super wealthy is being clobbered left right and centre and I’m not sure what the climate crisis and wars have to do with ticket prices for the RB?  I don’t think young people are living in a societal vacuum, so I think we’re all affected by these things, especially those of us with young families.

 

My point was that the only ticketing discount schemes the ROH offer is for young people and this doesn’t even include children. I don’t think this is fair and pointed out other organisations that have some schemes to help those on low incomes, although the young person scheme seems to be run by most organisations and whilst this is very nice for the young people, there are lots of other people struggling out there who get nothing and can’t afford these rising ticket prices, so we have to just suck it up and not go because we’re no longer under 30 and not wanted - as if that fact wasn’t depressing enough already!😆

 

The point is that we shouldn’t even need these discount schemes.  The arts should be accessible to all and prices should be a broad enough spectrum that people can attend at a price point suitable for them - not being asked to stump up £170 or £70 for a restricted view.  They need more philanthropist donors for this to happen, not fewer.

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by OnePigeon
Added thoughts

[art_enthusiast]

18 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

I’m not sure what the climate crisis and wars have to do with ticket prices for the RB? 

 

Probably this - as the world is dreadful enough already, let us not be denied the few pleasures we can obtain! This applies to everyone of course.

 

I do agree with everything else you've said. Regarding children, it looks like the ROH has put more effort into outreach programmes such as the Doncaster one towards the end of last year: the whole Create and Dance learning aspect, the opportunity for children to watch live rehearsals, as shown on their YouTube channel, and a performance I believe. These initiatives certainly need to be a lot more widespread.

 

Hopefully the ROH will be able to get another sponsor that aligns with their ethics. A renewable energy company potentially...