Derek Jacobi: High ticket prices mean theatre is becoming the preserve of a wealthy elite

All the world’s a stage, Shakespeare once wrote - but there are now concerns theatre is costing the earth.

Veteran thespian Sir Derek Jacobi has warned that rising ticket prices are turning theatre into an “elitist” artform.

The stage actor and star of The Crown and Last Tango in Halifax said he was shocked by the current price of West End shows, which may now cost several hundred pounds.

Sir Derek has argued that high prices will be “prohibitive” for many and result in theatre becoming the preserve of a wealthy elite.

Speaking after winning the lifetime achievement honour at the Olivier Awards, at the Royal Albert Hall, he said: “I’m not on the production side, the business side, so perhaps I'm talking through my hat, but when they say it’s £150 for a seat in the stalls, I understand that, and it shocks me.”

Speaking to The Guardian, he added: “I'm not an economist - I don't know the basics of how a theatre survives without money - but it certainly can't survive without bums on seats either.”

Sir Derek said that if the cost is so great that it becomes “prohibitive to bums on seats”, then the UK theatre industry will be left up a “creek without a paddle” - particularly at a time when many people are “thinking more than twice about using your hard-earned money to go and enjoy yourself”.

His comments come following a period of controversially high prices in London's West End, which industry experts calculated climbed 20 per cent from 2019 to 2022.

In May 2022, prices for the revival of Mike Bartlett’s play Cock caused concern in the industry after producers defended £400-a-ticket prices, saying they were a result of “supply and demand”. The top price was eventually reduced to £175.

Some tickets for the current run of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Normal People actor Paul Mescal, are selling for around £300.

Television stars have also been a pull for other shows, with some top tickets for A Little Life, featuring Happy Valley villain James Norton, going for £195.

Stars of the big and small screen earned plaudits at the event, where Jodie Comer, the Killing Eve star, was named best actress for her performance on the one-woman show Prima Facie. Mescal, another television star, was named best actor.

Mescal recently raised concerns about the pricing of tickets, saying: “I think theatre should be accessible. And if tickets get to a certain price that only a very, very small number of people can have access to, it gets to be problematic.”

Theatres have long argued that the majority of their prices remain under £100. In 2022, the Society of London Theatre - which runs the Olivier Awards - said that the average ticket price has not been inflated in the same way as top tier tickets in recent years.

At the Olivier Awards, the Society of London Theatre said Sir Derek had “garnered critical acclaim over his distinguished career and been the recipient of numerous accolades”.