Growth for regional theatres as ticket prices rise

Box office income at the UK’s regional theatres grew by 8% in 2014, as more theatre goers enjoyed a greater choice of productions. According to a report by UK Theatre, the number of tickets sold increased by 2.4% despite each ticket costing £23.77 on average – a rise of 5.5% compared to 2013, well above the rate of inflation.

The figures come from the first ever comprehensive analysis of sales data from UK Theatre venues by genre and venue type. The report covers around 200 venues, predominantly outside of London, since most venues that are also members of the Society of London Theatre do not provide sales data to UK Theatre.

Over 6,600 productions were staged across the venues in 2014 – an increase of 2% on 2013 – earning £438.6m in ticket sales. Venues that seat over 500 and principally present, rather than produce, took three quarters of this total – a proportion that appears to be rising. Producing theatres also enjoyed growth though, with larger venues taking 9.6% more at the box office in 2014 and smaller ones 3.5%.

UK‎ Theatre’s‎ former Executive ‎Director‎ David‎ Brownlee, who conducted the analysis, declared 2014 the “year of the big family musical”. With touring shows including The Lion King, Wicked and Shrek doing well, family musicals took £30m more in ticket sales in 2014 than in 2013. They accounted for almost £1 in every £4 taken at box offices, with 90% of that going to large presenting houses. The popularity of family musicals was offset by a decline in the popularity of ‘adult’ musicals, although the overall market share for musicals still increased.

Plays and ballet productions performed less well at the box office, following drops in the number of performances staged. There were 1,200 fewer performances of plays in 2014 – a drop of 8.3% – but income from plays only fell by 2.1%, with the impact on box offices softened by a slight rise in ticket prices and the number of tickets sold per performance. Despite an increase in the number of ballet productions, the total number of performances fell, largely due to a drop of almost 100 performances at the largest presenting houses, leading to a box office dip of 12.3%.

Tickets were most expensive at large producing houses, where the average ticket price was £27.25 in 2014. Large presenting houses priced their tickets at £22.27 on average, while smaller producing houses charged one of the lowest prices of £17.87, although this has increased by 7.5% since 2013, when the average price was £16.63.