cost of pantomimes rant !

redmatchstickman

hi everyone, I suppose I just want somewhere to rant about the cost of taking the kids to a pantomime. for example, my local theatre (Sutton Coldfield) is selling tickets for Cinderella which is on for 4 days only, for £16.00 for adults and £10 for children. my kids are 4 and 5. so would cost me £36.00 for us to attend.
Birmingham hippodrome is aladin where if we sit at the top tier and at the very back we can pay £21.00 each or its £36.00 each in the front half of the theatre. we could never afford to go here , its not even an option for us.
once a year a local charity, the jaguar charity, put a panto on with subsidised tickets for £20.00 for a family of four which is reasonable and I really appreciate anyone who donates to make this possible, but the panto is in feb and has already sold out so weve missed out on that.
I just feel a bit bad for the kids as they really want to go to a panto but I just cant afford it , at all. I feel like pantos are for rich people.

at the same i want to give credit to the symphony hall Birmingham who do a reduced rate ticket for £5.00 each for families in receipt of benefits which we have bought quite a few times and saw some wonderful performances from the city of Birmingham symphony orchestra. my kids have learnt a lot going to these shows and think its brilliant they do this.
other entertainment groups need to look at how they do it and offer seats to not so well off families!
I do work part time but money is tight and just want the kids to experience live performances and shows like others do.
grrrr .... I'm just really frustrated . rant over
rant over

jm2926

We used to go with the school or church who got a discount for buying as a group. Also means only paying for the kids

Stevie_Palimo

How do you believe all the costs are covered here if they cannot charge a fee to cover the actual outlay they incur ?

takman

I wouldn't say the cost is unreasonable considering the amount of people that are involved each night in the production that all need to be paid. Like you said to make it any cheaper it needs to be subsidised in some way. They definetly arnt only for rich people, but I can understand how someone on a very tight budget may not be able to justify it.

redmatchstickman

I understand they have costs, like costumes , venue charges etc and a believe a small ticket cost could cover this. there must be more acting groups/ students that would enjoy the experience of performing in a show , without receiving a wage for it.I assume a lot of actors do it for the fun of it and treat it as a hobby. I work for free in a performance sense a couple of times a month as I need to build my cv and I have no problem with that.
if they thought more of the community and less about profits I think they could easially do a low budget panto for low income families.

redmatchstickman

jm2926 wrote: »

We used to go with the school or church who got a discount for buying as a group. Also means only paying for the kids

thanks or this idea, I will try this next year thank you

redmatchstickman

takman wrote: »

I wouldn't say the cost is unreasonable considering the amount of people that are involved each night in the production that all need to be paid. Like you said to make it any cheaper it needs to be subsidised in some way. They definetly arnt only for rich people, but I can understand how someone on a very tight budget may not be able to justify it.

thanks for your reply.i understand what you are saying. maybe I should have saved a bit each week so we can attend, as I cannot justify the spend this month.
my feelings are, the people involved don't all have to be paid, they would like to be paid or have replied to an advert stating they would be paid. the lighting technician already has the lights, why not lend them for use for one night and his time too? the make up lady could donate her time too. costumes will cost some , so will stage sets but there are a lot of costs that could be lowered.

I'm half convincing myself to do this panto thing myself for next year, for no profits, just out of the goodness of my heart as I know it can be done, not a big budget show just a community hall with a local acting group and lots of donated time!

martinsurrey

redmatchstickman wrote: »

thanks for your reply.i understand what you are saying. maybe I should have saved a bit each week so we can attend, as I cannot justify the spend this month.
my feelings are, the people involved don't all have to be paid, they would like to be paid or have replied to an advert stating they would be paid. the lighting technician already has the lights, why not lend them for use for one night and his time too? the make up lady could donate her time too. costumes will cost some , so will stage sets but there are a lot of costs that could be lowered.

I'm half convincing myself to do this panto thing myself for next year, for no profits, just out of the goodness of my heart as I know it can be done, not a big budget show just a community hall with a local acting group and lots of donated time!

there is your solution..

Lets see if next year you're back here saying how easy it was to organize dozens of volunteers and get the use of thousands of pounds of equipment for free...

My guess is that it'll be a full time job for you between September and Jan, all for free.

and then dealing with any complaints that it "wasn't professional enough" and they want their ticket price back.

Mojisola

redmatchstickman wrote: »

I'm half convincing myself to do this panto thing myself for next year, for no profits, just out of the goodness of my heart as I know it can be done, not a big budget show just a community hall with a local acting group and lots of donated time!

Have you looked around to see if any local groups already do this?

In our area there are three different pantos put on each year - they are amateur groups but work to a high standard and are so popular they sell out most years. They do charge but are much cheaper than the professional shows.

Stevie_Palimo

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.Me55c4f355185d034634ea365ba8c6f85H0&pid=15.1

damo8604

I looked at taking a family of four to Jack in the Beanstalk in Guildford next week, I was shocked that the bill came to £100, I was expecting £30-£40 I guess it shows how long it's been since I went to a pantomime