Box office poison

[desperance]

It is a fact long established and widely known (and did you see, did you approve how I avoided saying it was a truth universally acknowledged? Aren't you grateful?) that I am fatal to any commercial endeavour, that everything I touch turns to dust and ashes in the till.

I should, perhaps, have warned my play's producer.

As of yesterday morning, the theatre had sold precisely six tickets for the opening night, in eight days' time. Six. There must surely be more than six people on Tyneside - no, one of those six is flying in from France: five on Tyneside, then - who are willing to risk a new play?

If so, we've clearly not found them yet. At this rate, the cast will outnumber the audience. Again...

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

This time it is demonstrably not your fault. For one thing, bringing in an audience for a play is surely the job of the theatre, and maybe the company. For another, if those figures are correct, you have brought in something over half that audience already.

Is this a venue where people habitually book in advance?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Can't answer that question either (I am taking these responses in reverse, for reasons that are not obvious even to me), but as to its not being my fault, I refer the honourable lady to my subsequent answer...

[durham-rambler.livejournal.com]

How many of those who are not coming did the box office tell that the tickets were £14 (and £12 concessions) rather than £8 (and £5 concessions, which my advancing years now qualify me for, and no I can't believe it either)?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Can't answer the question. It's handy to have a whipping-boy to blame (is that a mixed metaphor? my understanding being that whipping boys were not actually blamed, only punished?), but the confusion only lasted a couple of days. The great drag of my commercial failure has lasted three decades; I blame myself, of course I do...

[julesjones]

Is it any consolation to know that a couple of weeks ago someone else on my flist was bemoaning the fact the production he is currently involved in (as actor) had an audience of zero one night? It is alas a general hazard. :-(

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Eww. Zero is - hard. I have been the audience, yea, the entire audience at a lecture once (and she did give the whole lecture, including filmshow, on the grounds that she wouldn't be paid if she didn't), and I've been on a panel of five writers with an audience of two, but I don't think I've ever done zero.

My producer assures me that most local shows, the bulk of the tickets sell in the last week or on the night(s). I suppose I should believe him...

[julesjones]

Believe him. It's something I've heard from others. You'll get audiences smaller than the cast right up until the last weekend, and then people will be complaining about not being able to get tickets because the house is full. It's some weird quirk of human psychology.

I, on the other hand, was always willing to take advantage of first night discounts when I was going to Darlington Civic Theatre on a regular basis. The most extreme example of "we're all broke this month but we want to see this" was the time the RSC was doing the Henries on tour, with Timothy West as Falstaff and Samuel West as Prince Hal. My 10% discount that came with my Friends of the Theatre membership covered a box ticket, which seats up to five people and is in the cheapest grade of seat because of the restricted sightline. And there were five of us who wanted to go. So we bought a box ticket, with first night discount, and Friend discount, and saw the RSC for two quid each.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Believe him. It's something I've heard from others. You'll get audiences smaller than the cast right up until the last weekend, and then people will be complaining about not being able to get tickets because the house is full. It's some weird quirk of human psychology.

*suppresses cynicism, engages belief*

I, on the other hand, was always willing to take advantage of first night discounts when I was going to Darlington Civic Theatre on a regular basis.

That's the second time of recent mention - what on earth were you doing in Darlington?

The most extreme example of "we're all broke this month but we want to see this" was the time the RSC was doing the Henries on tour, with Timothy West as Falstaff and Samuel West as Prince Hal. My 10% discount that came with my Friends of the Theatre membership covered a box ticket, which seats up to five people and is in the cheapest grade of seat because of the restricted sightline. And there were five of us who wanted to go. So we bought a box ticket, with first night discount, and Friend discount, and saw the RSC for two quid each.

Are you going to hate me if I mention that my friend gets press tickets, which always come in pairs, and I am her established walker; so I get to see the RSC and every other show in Newcastle for nothing, from the best seats in the house, with free drinks in the interval...?

[julesjones]

I used to live in Teesside. :-) [mumble] years ago I was part of a group of recent graduates who were either single, or attached to someone doing a PhD at the other end of the country, so tended to Do Stuff as a group. And we liked live theatre. The Civic was only a twenty to forty minute drive away for all of us (although we never could persuade one of the group that he needed to allow five to ten minutes on top of that to get parked and walk from the council car park to the theatre and find the seats). The Civic was brilliant because it was on the main regional tour circuit, but we did have the occasional expedition to Newcastle as well. Plus the Billingham Forum and Middlesbrough Theatre.

I will try not to hate you too much, although it will be an effort.

[angelsasha.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry :( If I were nearer Tyneside or had my own transport, I'd be ticket number 7. I hate it when things go badly for good people... Any chance you (or someone) can stand around town with flyers for the next week and try to drum up some interest?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

We're doing it. And thanks for the support, and it may in the end not be quite so bad as I am painting it; will update with actual numbers. Probably night by night. I'm at the theatre for rehearsals every day from now till opening; I'm already fighting the temptation to hound the box office every day from now till opening, demanding latest numbers. (Trouble is, with books, you can go into the bookshop and count. With theatre tickets, you actually have to bother somebody...)

[pennski.livejournal.com]

Maybe they're all doing the same as they do for our shows (local Operatic Society) - waiting for someone else to tell them how fabulous it is and then rushing to buy tickets at the last minute.

We saw a fantastic 2-person show at the Fringe one year where there were only half-a-dozen of us in the audience. We were all as enthusiastic as possible.

[angelsasha.livejournal.com]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for more ticket sales. I'm sure things will pick up!

[devonellington.livejournal.com]

That's not you. Even a small company -- especially a small company -- needs to work twice as hard on PR. Have they sent packets to the papers? Why hasn't there been a feature article on you yet? What is their mailing list like? Are they giving away free tickets on the radio (I always found that built business hugely both in Edinburgh and Australia -- a few sets of free tix on the radio, good word of mouth, and sales jumped). If they do nothing, nothing will happen. People need to know the play is on so that they can come and see it.

[mantichore.livejournal.com]

Hijacking your regularly-scheduled blog for a personal message, sorry: being away from home, I take advantage of an Edinburghian internet café to confirm that, if I've read the schedule right (and the damn thing has notes and colours I'm not sure I've got all figured out), I should be gracing Newcastle with my suave and debonair presence tomorrow the third of April around 11h40 in the morning, should the train be on time, and I have not missed it.

Crossing my fingers double. And once more on top, just to make sure.

(Oh, and a Geordie* met yesterday in Edinburgh said that audiences always wait for the last minute before buying tickets. So, no worries about the attendance tomorrow!)

- Thanks to Bryan Talbot I know the difference between Geordie and Makkem, now. Culture through comics -