You can sign up and be enjoying shows for £5 or less
Seeing a show can be pricey, but there is an easy way to scoop up top-tier tickets at heavily discounted prices or even for free.
Tucked away beneath the surface of theatre land, a small army of savvy theatre fans are scooping up tickets to see shows for less. Cleverly avoiding inflated ticket prices and unwanted fees, those in the know are signing up for a secret society of agencies and ticket sellers who welcome them with open arms.
Using an age-old technique known as ‘papering’ these agencies are able to offer tickets for a nominal fee, to help fill seats in the audience. Operating like undercover theatrical ninjas, ‘paperers’ are sworn to secrecy so as not to arouse the suspicion of punters who have paid the full ticket price.
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Providing ‘bums on seats’ for all manner of performances, theatre fans who sign up to become a ‘paperer’ could be enjoying new experimental plays, musicals, ballet, opera and even big-name West End shows for less than £15 a ticket, or just a small admin fee. Seat fillers may also be asked to give their thoughts on the performance, helping directors hone a show until it finds its feet.
The Audience Club is one such society that has been filling empty seats since 2007. According to the website they have been “trusted to fill seats for more than 120,000 events” since their inception, covering everything from fringe-style shows, to cinema screenings and more mainstream performances.
There is a small £5 membership fee, and anyone who signs up must be able to produce a passport-style photo and confirm that they are using tickets for personal use and not selling them on.
Central Tickets is another varied club that offers members access to a wide range of shows and events for an affordable price in exchange for saying nothing. Members who register to become seat fillers will also receive exclusive pre-sales and West End discounts via the usual third-party ticketing sites.
It takes just a couple of minutes to sign up and there is no joining fee. Having had a peak on the site, the seat filling options are varied and affordable.
Seat Fillers is also calling for “theatre lovers to unite” by providing free or ‘just pay booking fees’ tickets to shows and events, to discreetly boost audience numbers and raise the atmosphere at struggling productions.
According to their website they “connect slow-selling productions with eager audiences for a win/win arrangement. You get free tickets and they get to boost audiences.”
Seat Fillers, like all of the other papering agencies, will send out regular alerts via email when tickets become available. Members can choose what type of productions or events they are most interested in seeing as well as their preferred geographical locations.
Of course, potential audience members should be aware that some listings might be a little last minute, meaning they will need to be able to get to the venue at short notice. Generally, you won’t get to choose your seat and it’s unlikely that you’ll ever find reduced tickets for big stadium tours or sold-out arena shows.
Some agencies also stipulate that members must sign up for a certain number of tickets per year to prevent their membership status from expiring.
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