For a lot of people, money can get pretty tight. Some people can even have trouble paying for some of their lower-tier Maslovian needs. Naturally, for these people, tickets for concerts or theatre shows would normally be right out. And it looks like this is starting to change, with London creating a new sceheme called the Ticket Bank. Under the Ticket Bank, venues will give unsold tickets (about 1,000 per week) to people struggling with money. 

The Plan

According to Chris Sonnex, director of homeless theatre troupe Cardboard Citizens, and the originator of the Ticket Bank: “There are brilliant people putting together food banks and heat banks, but that doesn’t give humanity its basic needs from a soul point of view. People who are suffering as a result of the cost of living also need access to community, entertainment and things that warm the soul. Art is a human right. And the tighter things get with people’s finances, the more they will be squeezed out of art.”

It was inspired by a practice called “Papering.” With papering, theaters might keep hold of unsold tickets and offer them to certain people. Maybe they’re connected to the show, maybe they’re just related to the arts. But, if all goes well, they at least end up with a full house, which leads to more positive word of mouth, leading to more ticket sales.

They are working with multiple charities. Food banks like Trussell Trust. Housing charities like Centrepoint and Positive Action in Housing. Even the Longford Trust, which works to support ex-cons. All of these organizations will provide the have-nots with access codes to book tickets. And where do these tickets come from? 

The Venues

Seven different organizations have already signed up to provide tickets for the Ticket Bank: The National Theatre, The Roundhouse, The Barbican, and four smaller theatres: Almeida Theatre, Gate Theatre, Bush Theatre, and Tara Theatre. And that’s just the ones who’ve currently been announced. They plan to announce seven more venues in January, and are even “in conversations” with cinemas to potentially participate.

These tickets will be available either for free, or a “pay what you can” donation. Quoth Caroline McCormack, chair of the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation, “Even 10p will be welcome, and a way of maintaining the dignity of people receiving the tickets.” And for anyone who’s wondering how these venues are going to pay for this scheme, well, the tickets in question would otherwise be unused and unsold anyway. They have nothing to lose but ticket revenues that weren’t even coming in anyway.

Chris Sonnex’ testimony.

Chris Sonnex pointed out that when he grew up, he lived in a Council Estate in Inner London. He explained: “I don’t think I went to a museum unless the school told me to go there. I lived five minutes from a renowned theatre, but I didn’t even know it was a theatre. So it’s important to reach as many people as possible to say: this is for you. That never really happened with me. If you reach out to people who have never gone to the theatre, and can’t afford it, then in years to come you might find they come back and say I really liked that and now I’ve got some money so I’m going to spend it [on tickets]. It’s future-proofing in a world where audiences are dwindling and getting older.” 

And, as I look at ticket prices, I see that they can get pretty expensive. I look up tickets for the current Broadway in Chicago production of The Lion King. While they say tickets can be as low as $33, tickets that I can see routinely go above $200 even in the nosebleeds. Tickets below $100 are only slightly more common than hen’s teeth. No wonder it’s the highest grossing play in history with those prices.

Caroline McCormack says she hopes the Ticket Bank can spread out to other cities, and if it works out, I can only see this as a good thing. 

A Bit of Shakespearean context

I could go on about how there’s a lot of artistically inclined people, dreamers who paid thousands in college degrees in the hopes that it would bring them a career in the arts, but still can barely afford to keep the lights on. But I’ll go on about something a bit further removed from current events. In the original Globe Theater, the audience was segregated into two groups. The first consisted of wealthy people who could afford to sit in the balcony, maybe even hobknob with the queen. But on Terra Firma, the common people of London stood around on the ground to watch the plays. Maybe they’d leave these shows and get drunk or take bets on whether a bear could outlast a pack of dogs in some bloodsport. 

How much did it cost for these groundlings to get tickets to history being made before their eyes? A single penny. I looked up how much a penny’s admission to the first production of Hamlet in 1601 would be. Depending on how you calculate that cost, it’s anywhere from 94 pence to £26.26. I can easily imagine the Bard spinning in his grave if he found out that the groundlings of today were so priced out of the theater. If nothing else, who else would laugh when he made jokes about country matters?