Ticket and Membership Price changes

Following consultation with the Executive team and House teams, the Board has approved new ticket prices effective from 1 April 2026.
We’re sure that the changes won’t come as a surprise to many, but as a bit of background, the following points were made in our discussions:

• The £5 Flexible Wednesday works well to make shows available to those who can’t afford the full price.
• Early Bird tickets seem to have served their purpose, and are often booked by those who can be first off the mark when tickets go on sale.
• The majority of member tickets have been sold on the member early bird price, even those purchased on the night of the show.
• We believe it’s important to maintain a healthy membership discount.
• As most member tickets were sold on an early bird basis, the new price would have to take that into account.
• Musicals or shows with additional costs should be able to charge more for tickets, as their costs are higher.
• Youth shows should be charged at the standard rate.
• Shows that are likely to attract smaller audiences should be able to offer discounted tickets (but these should be agreed before the tickets go on sale).
• We’re out of line with similar theatres, who are charging more than us for tickets.

So from 1 April our new ticket prices for regular shows will be:

• Standard ticket: £18 (General public)
• *Member/Supporter ticket: £11

Shows that are musicals or have higher production costs:

• Standard ticket: £20.00 (General public)
• Standard Family ticket: (admits 4) £65.00 (General public)
• *Member/Supporter ticket: £14.00
• *Member/Supporter Family ticket: (admits 4) £48.00

Flexible Wednesday tickets will still be available (min £5.00) and there will be discounts for certain shows, so do look out for special deals.

*Member/Supporter tickets must be used by SLT members/supporters for themselves and are not transferrable. In the case of Family Tickets, at least one SLT member/supporter must be in the party of four taking their seats.

It’s been some time since membership prices have increased, despite costs increasing significantly over recent years. Our research showed that we were out of line with similar groups, particularly as many insist on audition fees on top of membership fees. In addition, our concession discount of 50% is also more generous than that offered by other theatres, and 60% of the full price is much more usual.
Our annual subscription fees will increase from 1 April to:

• SLT Membership Standard Rate: £55.00 per year
• SLT Membership Concession Rate: £33.00 per year
• SLT Supporter Circle subscriptions: £25.00 per year (Discounts available)

Our commitment to making theatre accessible to all continues, and the flexible ticket night with a £5 minimum will remain in place. When compared to the non-early bird tickets, the cost of a membership ticket has gone down.

The increase in standard ticket prices will hopefully encourage people to join as members or supporters.  There is a £7.00 discount between member and non-member tickets, so anyone who is seeing eight shows or more a year will make a profit from membership.  A concession member will only need to see five shows to make a profit.

Impact of the two free tickets in the first year. In the first year a new member gets two free tickets, so in the first year a full member only needs to see their two free, plus three other shows to make a profit.  A concession member makes an immediate profit in their first year by using their two free tickets.

Supporters Circle: Those people who don’t want to become members, but do want to support the theatre will also benefit. In the first year they will only need to see one show in addition to their free ticket to be in profit.  In the second year and every year following, they will only need to see four shows per year to be in profit.

In addition to raising extra money for the theatre and help guarantee its future, we hope that these changes will also encourage new memberships or supporters.

As mentioned, Theatre Committee will be asked to identify shows that may benefit from special offer deals, making it easier to sell those shows with smaller casts or less well-known authors.

We’ll continue to publish ticket prices on the show information page on TicketSource, so people can check the price before they start the purchase.