Regional Theatre Tickets Prices Go Up; Family Musicals Perennially Popular, Says New Report

UK Theatre have published a report on the sales data of their regional venues - around 200 theatres.

It reveals that the average advertised ticket price increased by 5.1% in 2014, well above inflation.

Meanwhile, blockbuster family musicals took almost £1 in every £4 taken at the Box Office with shows including The Lion King, Wicked and Shrek doing excellent business on long tours.

Though the market for musicals in the region is buoyant, ticket sales for plays fell by 278,000 in 2014 - and on average auditoria were only just half full.

They also announced that UK Theatre's sister organisation, the Society of London Theatre (SOLT), with members in the West End, recorded attendances of 14,744,887 and box office income of £623,616,401.

As well as confirming the overall size and financial impact of regional theatre, the new benchmarking report is the first ever comprehensive analysis of sales data by genre and venue type for UK Theatre (formerlyTMA) venues.

Rachel Tackley, President of UK Theatre, commented: "The good news from this report is that theatres throughout the UK continue to thrive despite the challenging financial climate. As the 2015 UK Theatre Awards demonstrated, regional theatres continue to produce some of the country's most exciting theatre despite unprecedented cuts to national and local funding.

"It is great to see the growing popularity of family musicals, which are a fantastic way to reach new audiences, but if we are to maintain our position as world leader in the performing arts we must continue to invest in the companies producing innovative drama, dance and opera. Theatre plays a more crucial role in our communities than ever before and the small investment from national and local government is repaid many times over by the economic, cultural, social and educational benefits it returns."

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