Do Londoners travel for Regional Theatre?

As a theatre data nerd and an audiences nerd I am very intereste in this (albeit non scientific) investiation.

I have only done it because an actor I liked was in a touring show. But I had to get coaches and my tickets averaged £40 plus between £20 and £28 I paid for coaches each time. I do Les Mis a lot and at best pay £27.50 for my ticket on occassion £45 band ticket. When he was in Mis for the amount I paid in total for 9 trips could have see Mis 18 times. But... I wouldn't generally do it because I am on a position where I have to travel to the venue first to buy tickets in cash at the box office. And getting only coaches makes locations without a decent service impossible to go to.

I do travel to see shows I really want to- usually to Bath, Bristol, Brighton, Oxford, Cambridge, Chichester, Dublin and Edinburgh (actually hadn't realised how much I do it!). I am in a position where I do travel with work so I can often go to theatres near where I may be working in which case I don't pay for the travel as it's paid for, so often if it's a touring production that's going to London it is often cheaper in other cities. I definitely wouldn't do it as often if I had to pay for all the travel. I do go also outside of the UK - usually though it's for opera or ballet and not theatre so it's usually France, Italy, Germany or Austria.

I’ve talked about this before, but we go out of London to see whatever Jason Donovan does. Where possible we will do it in a day trip on a Saturday, see a matinee and come back. We train most of the time now and don’t coach any more, but there are times we’ve done a matinee and evening and taken the overnight coach back to London. I’m just too old and too immobile these days to do that!

But other than JD, I don’t tend to do out of London. I will however make an exception for Bat Out Of Hell if it does ever tour because I bloody love that show (as does the whole family now).

For variety will make an effort to get out of London at least a few times a year with the caveat that the play is unlikely to transfer to London.

Last year went to
- Manchester Royal Exchange x3
- Theatre Royal Bath x4
- Nottingham Playhouse x1
- Chichester x1
- Watermill Newbury x1

Not sure it counts, always prefer to see the RSC at Stratford Upon Avon and usually there 4 times a year seeing at least two productions each time.

If you book the train ticket early enough and with tickets about half those of a West End Theatre the cost is equivalent to a mid priced West End ticket with the advantage of a welcome change of scenery.


Not sure if it is because I am more choosy, some of the best plays I saw last year were outside of London
- Happy Days and Salesman in Manchester
- The Price and In Praise of Love in Bath
- Madness of George III in Nottingham
- Copenhagen in Chichester

Not technically a Londoner (live just outside but work in London) and I do occasionally travel for theatre, but nowhere near as much as I’d like. Been to Chichester, Canterbury, Leicester and Cardiff a couple of times each, and have been to shows in Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Colchester, but there’s so much I’d like to get to that I just don’t manage to fit in because I essentially get restricted to Saturday matinees as I prefer not to stay overnight.

I live in Kent so not a Londoner but I travel wherever I need to for the musicals I want to see. Majority by public transport as I don't drive. Wife does but still works while I'm long retired!

My favourite venues outside London are Crucible Sheffield, Curve Leicester, Festival Theatre Chichester, Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff and Kilworth House near Lutterworth.

Touring productions usually visit at least one out of the Orchard Theatre Dartford, Churchill Theatre Bromley or New Wimbledon Theatre and I book whichever gets the show first. I also go to the Hippodrome in Bristol and and the New Victoria Woking as they often have cheap senior weekday matinees.

Been as far as Devon, Cheshire and Yorkshire to see amateur musicals. I try to avoid staying away so in cases when I couldn't get home after an evening show I book a Saturday, or if there is one a weekday, matinee. I'm seeing Local Hero at a Wednesday matinee in Edinburgh in April which I initially planned as a day trip but the arrival time was a bit too tight so now going the previous day, seeing an amateur Sweet Charity on the Tuesday evening and staying at a Premier Inn overnight.

I enjoy travelling by train and coach and have a degree of specialist knowledge of rail ticketing so usually get the lowest possible prices without making journeys too long or connections too tight.

I'm generally happy with the prices I pay for tickets; some amateur shows for what they charge and the quality they achieve are fantastic VFM.

I too am not technically a Londoner but close enough to count for theatre-going purposes. I will travel for things I want to see though; I'm a semi-regular visitor to Bristol, I used to go to Stratford all the time, Oxford has proven itself worryingly and usefully accessible so I'll definitely go there more, and although I don't really like how long it takes to get to Manchester, I will make the journey sometimes. (I've also been known to go to New York and Amsterdam to see shows but as I plan holidays around those, they don't necessarily count as *just* travelling for regional theatre. And, in fairness, last time I went to Manchester, it was the same weekend as a family wedding in Liverpool so really just a short train ride at that point.)

I do, if there's something I want to see that is touring and not coming into London, or it's just in another town then I will go there. I usually go the cheapest way possible which does often involve a bus. The problem with going out of London to see a show and wanting to get back that day is that public transport doesn't work well in that direction at those times of day. You can get out of London till pretty late but not the other way round (which is why sometimes I end up driving). A good theatrical day out once was coach to Sheffield, matinee, train to Leeds, evening show, overnight coach back to London. Since you're asking about prices that was £10 to Sheffield, Leeds to London £11, train between £4.50. The tickets I think were actually slightly more expensive than I would normally pay for in London but that's because there you can often get deals for cheap front of stall seats whereas if you want to sit near the front outside London sometimes you do have to pay that bit more.

Only to see friends on tour (and then I try to go to a show as close to London as possible!)

Yes, I don't live in London yet it's easier to reach the centre and parts of the outskirts than some suburbs or nearby towns, eg Bromley, Hornchurch, Southend. I'm often tempted by productions/reviews but defeated once I check the logistics.

Impressive amount of travelling going on!

I live in Croydon and occasionally travel to Wimbledon or Richmond with the odd venture to Chichester, though the shows I like are in the expensive theatre so those journeys have been few and far between recently.

I struggle to go any further West than Shepherd's Bush or any North than Finsbury Park. The trains are so rubbish and I am so tired.

Wasn't the original remit of the St James / Other Palace that it would be a receiving house for regional productions? Did that ever happen?