If you see a show you fancy advertised at the local theatre or cinema, do you book in advance? Or do you just leave it til the last minute in case something changes? Perhaps you like to just turn up at the door?
Recently I've noticed a change in people's booking habits - perhaps it's all the uncertainty over Brexit here that is making people less sure of where they'll be or what they'll do (for example, the housing market has taken a big hit and that's what's being blamed) ....
But several theatres and small venues I've spoken to or been in contact with have been getting in to a real panic if there are no pre-sales 2 weeks before an event, and they are then cancelling the upcoming show. One theatre booker told me she cancelled 5 shows in the Autumn alone because of that.
Normally in music, in small venues at least, venues wouldn't start to panic until a few days before the event and push up their advertising for a last minute sale and then keep fingers crossed right up to the last day. But obviously theatres are a different animal.
I would always be a very last minute buyer - probably to see how I"m feeling on the night - and maybe it's because we plan so much of our lives way way into the future that I leave our leisure events until the last minute. But I'm going to try to make more of an effort from here on in.
If you do like to go to see shows, try and book a wee bit earlier to give them some confidence.
That sounds like a very troubling occurrence over there. Here, people either book in advance or purchase the day of. Very rarely, if even, have I heard a local show being canceled due to poor/no sales.
ReplyDeleteThey book in advance for large events here too GB, it's just the smaller ones that are suffering.
DeleteA bit of forethought needed on the part of the visitor... I will mention this to friends, not something that has come up in conversation. I guess we are all getting used to everything being done 'in the moment' ... you can buy a book and it comes to the kindle in less than minute, order something and in some cases its delivered later that day ... are breeding a society of impatient young people .... ooops better get off my soapbox lol. x
ReplyDeletelol You're right Julie - everything has become so instant and we expect instant gratification - last year we booked several shows at the start of the year and it was lovely to have that anticipation for a change.
DeleteThat's certainly an interesting dilemma Fil and I'm glad you've brought it to our attention. I'm not sure if it's a problem here or not, but it's something I'll be more conscious of now.
ReplyDeleteHi Fil - can quite see your logic here ... I don't often prebook things ... unless I'm actually going - which nowadays is rare. I say good luck to all honest people putting on shows, booking performers ... I hope things turn around for us all - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting question. In the days when I regularly went to concerts/theatre tickets would generally be booked weeks in advance.
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