A guide to getting cheap theatre tickets
Last week, Karen Fricker and I laid out11 shows not to miss this fall — including big budget musicals, buzzworthy Toronto premieres, indie darlings and productions from Toronto theatres celebrating milestone anniversaries. So now that you know what to see, here’s how to do it on any budget.
Theatre companies have long fought against the stereotype that they serve primarily upper middle class audiences who can shell out increasingly high ticket prices, especially now, as fanbase-driven shows like Hamilton and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child make their way to Toronto (along with the ticket scalpers they attract).
As theatre critic Glenn Sumi said in NOW Magazine, for the big shows, “$150 is standard for a decent orchestra or mezzanine seat at a play or musical” and “premium seats are often double or triple that.”
“I think theatre has the impression of being unaffordable because it is,” says Owais Lightwala, managing director of Why Not Theatre. “Compared to equivalent social activities like going to a movie or a bar, it’s an inherently more expensive activity.”
But taking a chance on a new show shouldn’t have to chip into your rent payment. Here’s a rundown of the discount options available in Toronto. The basics Several discount practices are now standard for Toronto’s mid-size theatre companies: purchasing tickets in groups of six to 10 or more, depending the company; buying a subscription or package of multiple productions at once; booking tickets early (sometimes a month before a show’s opening) or last-minute rush tickets, which usually require lining up at least an hour before the performance (and way earlier if demand is high).
Mirvish offers $39 same-day rush tickets for Come From Away, while companies like Canadian Stage and Soulpepper Theatre offer youth tickets ($29 for Canadian Stage and $20 for Soulpepper) if you’re under 30 and don’t qualify for student pricing, which is also standard among theatre companies (hipTIX, for instance, offers $5 tickets for students 14 to 29). If you’re a senior, you can also get discounts. Each company has its own rules about how and when and for which performances you can get discounts, so best to check with the company you’re interested in buying from. The discount resellers Long gone are the days of lining up at the T.O. Tix booth at Yonge-Dundas Square, which ceased operations in 2016 when the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts pivoted to a digital avenue for discount tickets: an app called Tonight. The American discount seller TodayTix is also operating in Toronto, with offers for everything from the Stratford Festival to Tarragon Theatre to Comedy Bar. Another option is House Seats, a subscription service that offers free tickets to members for a yearly fee and a secret show list you have to be a member to see. PWYC or PWYCA Pay-what-you-can or pay-what-you-can-afford options are rife during the summer; most outdoor theatre productions operate this way, with a suggested donation usually around $20. But some companies offer select PWYC performances throughout the regular season, too, including Buddies in Bad Times and Cahoots Theatre.
More recently, companies like Why Not Theatre have experimented with expanding scaled prices to entire runs of shows. For its Prince Hamlet and Now You See Her, Why Not used a sliding scale of four options ($5, $25, $50 and $75) and will now use that model whenever possible.
“Generally the average ticket price is lower, but the overall attendance and revenue is either the same or higher than before,” Lightwala says. As Why Not shares its findings, there’s potential for sliding scales to permeate the industry, as companies in the U.K. and Australia experiment with another acronym NOTAFLOF (“no one turned away for lack of funds”) to ensure ticket prices aren’t an insurmountable barrier to audiences. Reach out Luke Reece, a producer at Obsidian Theatre, suggests ushering or asking to be invited to dress rehearsals as two ways to see shows for free. Another tactic is to reach out to companies you like and build a relationship.
“Oftentimes they would offer me a pair of tickets to a preview or even opening. Sometimes I just straight up asked,” Reece says of his time as a young artist and student on a budget, meeting with artistic directors and producers.
“When I meet with ‘emerging’ artists now, I like to get a sense of what type of work interests them. If I see a way that I can help connect them with that type of work, I’ll often reach out myself to companies to see if I can get a pair of comps for them.”
The downside of most of these discount strategies is that they require work on the part of the buyer: Searching company websites, waiting in a rush line or even ushering, all of which can be difficult to fit into a busy life. So while there are options to find cheap theatre tickets in Toronto, there’s still room for improvement.
“You know what’s amazing about movies? Every cinema costs basically the same,” Lightwala says. “Imagine if we could all come together and figure out some consistent ticket prices across the board. How easy would it make life for audiences?
“We have a generally fragmented and confusing market for theatre in this city.”
The downside of most discount strategies is that they require work on the part of the buyer: Searching company websites, waiting in a rush line or even ushering