FAQ U

I have updated the Royal Opera House FAQ page and added a new FAQ page for ENO.  Both are accessible via sidebar links on the right.

Please feel free to comment or email me with any further suggestions or corrections.

Comments

[Rory]

A bit of extra info for the ENO page (from almost obsessive ENO attendance)

Days seats are all either in row B or the very sides of A & B in the Balcony only - these are less expensive than normal Balcony seats and are generally between £10-£15 (varying by a couple of quid between Mon-Thurs & Fri-Sun). They are sold from 10am to personal callers and then any remaining at 12:30pm can be bought over the phone (there's sometimes a limit of 2 person). For very popular performances they can sell out within the first 15 minutes of being on sale.)Unless there are offers on these are the cheapest tickets available to mere mortals (i.e. if your not a student, oap etc)

For sold out performances you should ring 0871 472 0800 (I've found that when the Box Office is busy the other number sometimes trips you through to an agency who are fine for less full operas) This number only goes to the ENO Box Office, so you might have to wait longer but you are guaranteed to get through to the real deal.

The standby tickets are limited to one per person & they ask for I.d. (student card etc) - if you don't bring I.d. you have to pay top whack.

Special offers are mostly in the Evening Standard and sometimes the Metro.

The student/under 30s scheme holds a very limited number of tickets in each area so book early. You can't buy these as presents for friends or anything unless you (the member) go as well. They check this by not letting you collect the tickets until the day, and you have to bring your I.d.

Rory

[MB]

It should be added that the ROH student tickets scheme is a real crock. All the tickets I was offered in the entire 2008-9 season were for ballet (and Lulu, for one performance, all the tickets of which disappeared in a few hours). Plus to join the student tickets scheme you have to endure a techno version of Nessun Dorma, from which I am still recovering.

Also it seems really shabby that the Friends now take all the good standing room - surely this should be for the people who dont have quantities of spare money to throw around.

[antmusique]

Many thanks! That is much appreciated. I'm bookmarking both FAQ pages.

I second MB's comment regarding the scarcity of student tickets at the ROH this past season. I signed up for the scheme at the end of the previous season, in July 2008, and got three or four student offers just for that month. So I was expecting more than what we got in the 2008-9 season. I suppose this simply means that the house has been practically full throughout the season...

[Kit]

re your ENO FAQ's: Stalls overhung by one third? Don't think so! Dress Circle I think you mean! (I would now type a "smilie" if I didn't think they were too naff)

[inter mezzo]

the stalls are indeed overhung by around a third - I checked. The circle is overhung a lot more - by around three quarters.

[a mac]

There have been changes to standing at ROH - a lot places are now sold as "day seats". In the balcony this is 2 each side in the row C and possibly 2 in the more central row D standing. The better 4 or 5 places in the row B (which used to be tall chairs and which have been recycled in other parts).

Day seats also come on line around 10.30 - ll if not sold in the queue. Weekday performances seem to be best chance of getting something better.

Over the last 3 or so booking periods it has been hard to get better standing places even as a friend and even if you get around 8.02 am !

[a mac]

"the stalls are indeed overhung by around a third - I checked. The circle is overhung a lot more - by around three quarters."

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The last 4 or so rows are over hung in the stalls. This rises to 5 or 6 if you count all the "gubbins" that hangs off the front of it.

Although I have never noticed any really acoustic disadvantage apart from when I was centralish in the 4th last row for Satyagraha - the huge digital projectors were quite noisy. But since the seat was only a tenner and they did drown out some of the music I wasn't too worried !

I would avoid the Upper Circle - its is neither one thing or t'other !. Not noticeably better than the balcony yet significantly more expensive (£16 versus £50).

I would also say that beyond row E (if central then F) in the dress circle is not worth the money either.

[properties philippines]

Just wanted to say that the opera house was so beautiful.

Deirdre G

[inter mezzo]

As I've received a couple of emails asking what the 'standing seats' are like, perhaps it's worth clarifying that standing places are just that - standing places. If you buy one, the only place to sit is on the floor, so most people stand throughout the performance. The loose chairs and stools you may see around the opera house are sold as seats.

[Kit]

IM: With the new (and imho hideously annoying) ENO website, all your links need updating. Why have they spent such a fortune on all this flash Flash, which just makes it more difficult to find what you want? Visually quite pretty, but slow and confusing to navigate. Some jobsworth determined to prove how important they are no doubt. Ho hum ... Reminds one rather of the new "improved" ROH site, that wasn't.

[Ruth]

Just a couple of things in a rather belated response to MB:

"Also it seems really shabby that the Friends now take all the good standing room - surely this should be for the people who dont have quantities of spare money to throw around."

Firstly, as amac has already said, these are often held as day seats now (though there seems to be no consistency in this - sometimes there are some available for advance booking from Friends Priority stage onwards, other times they're not. I have picked the very best up as day tickets (having joined the queue) on several occasions, and many times I've spotted one or more still available once the "leftover" day tickets go online at 10:30ish. This morning at not long after 10, for example, there was a very acceptable day ticket (balcony standing, upper numbers, not the very restricted view ones, £5) available for tonight's Gambler premiere.

Secondly, Friends certainly aren't just those with money to throw around. If you habitually attend 15 or so times a season as I do, and a Friends subscription makes it much easier to get seats in the lower price bands, the £80 (?) annual fee is more than worth it as it means I can end up paying an average of £20 a ticket rather than being forced into the higher price brackets at £40+. Annual spend (and obviously this is just an example!) becomes £380 as opposed to £600...

[Richard Carter]

A note to add on food and drink at ROH: the prices are hideous (even worse than the scalpers at the Albert Hall manage to inflict): £10 for a small glass of champagne. So take your own if you don't want to be hungry, thirsty or robbed. I've once only been told I shouldn't take my own stuff in, but that was in the bag search at the entry, so no problems there at all.

[Caitlin]

I wouldn't advise being late on purpose, but I've been late to performances at the ROH. Once they made me wait in a sideroom (they'd rigged up closed circuit television so those of us who'd arrived late could watch the performance until we were allowed to take our seats at intermission). But another time, at a ballet, I was actually given my own private box for the first portion of the show. A seat in the box I was in was priced at over £300 (I looked it up later), while I paid £10 for my ticket. I was asked to move to my seat at intermission, but the box was amazing while I was there. Here's a link to the blog entry I posted on the experience: http://caitlingu.com/2009/08/02/june-why-being-late-pays-sometimes/

[Peter]

I am a friend of Covent Garden and have been trying to find out from them how they allocate standing places between the various booking period. They seem reluctant to give a straight answer. I am seriously wondering whether its worth being a friend to get standing places. Covent Garden have told me that that they allow higher level friends to buy standing places. I am really confused about how they allocate standing places and reading here that you can buy good standing places as day seats has added to my confusion. I thought that only standing places in amphitheatre were sold on the day. I have given up looking for balcony standing (the good places) in friends booking because they never seem to be there now. I would be interested in hearing how others find the increasingly elusive hunt for standing places

[Ruth]

Peter, there really seems to be no rhyme or reason behind it, as I said in an earlier comment.

My favourite Balcony standing places (D30-D33) can sometimes be picked up on Friends booking, sometimes public booking, sometimes as day tickets. There have even been a few occasions when I've popped onto the ROH website on spec, at no particular significant point in the booking cycle, and managed to get one of those standing tickets - most recently for Rigoletto, though I've since had to return those tickets and exchange them for a different day.

I certainly wouldn't say that at the moment it's worth joining the Friends if all you ever want is standing tickets. However they'll probably change it round again next year.

[MB]

Another response to Peter--I hate to be contrarian here, but I think the only irregularities produced in standing availability are the result of the public's booking choices. Having bemoaned the situation above, and having since gained access to the friends' booking, I can say that it is undoubtedly the case that standing places go to friends. This morning I was immediately on the site at 8AM, and for all the Adrianas and Tannhausers, the best standing places were all available, and disappearing as I was there. When these are appearing as available after friends' booking, imo, it's only because it was for an undesirable production (the Rigoletto example), or people were returning them (since they're cheap, standing places are good guarantees if you're not sure you can make it). Of course, the ROH would prefer to spread a fog of dissimulation about this situation than to admit the simple logic.

[HairManWNO]

@ PeRuMB

The only reason why I'm a Friend is because of the standing places - I couldn't afford to buy as many tickets as I do if I weren't due to the costs of travelling up to London etc. I've only managed to get a balcony standing on two occasions - both for not sought after productions, which does suggest that deeper pockets are nabbing balconies for friends / family. But they pay far more than I do so I can't grumble about this - I get in before public booking so it's a case of swings and roundabouts.

But I'm deeply dislikng the retuned 8am booking time as my recent standing tickets have been pretty awful by the time I crawl from the upper hundreds to actually logging in. I was lucky to pick up a pair of waaaaaay to the sides Tannhausers but if it gets to the point where all that's on offer is twisting my neck in the lower slips or standing in W in the Amphi then I'll cancel my membership and take a punt on returns.

[HairManWNO]

Just read further up the page that the better standing are being held back for day tickets...hmmm...I'm not amused if this is the case.

[John]

Hairman,

You were lucky I joined the queue at 1854 despite clicking madly on sign in at the witching hour of 8am. 80 minutes to get a sniff of booking.

[Phil]

Just a quick note about something much less important than seating, but the ENO photo policy is now much less strict than it used to be. Photos in the bar areas have been allowed for a long time, but now you can even take photos in the auditorium AS LONG AS THE SET - images of which, to be fair, are in the copyright of the designer - IS NOT IN VIEW. In practice, this means it's best to wait until the show's over, and there'll be fewer other patrons in the way.

Just wanted to say that, so that people know that the ENO isn't draconian...

[hippoes]

I hope this is the right place to ask: is there a ROH policy regarding "auto-upgrading" one's own seat to a better empty one, maybe at the interval? I went from my lower slips 'seat' to one in the orchestra stalls for Sunday's Werther (there were several empty seats at the back): I wasn't spotted so all worked ok, but I was anxious until the lights went out.

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Intermezzo replies - yes there is a policy, and it's DON'T. I've seen the ushers shooing people back to their seats. They sometimes inspect tickets after the interval too. Of course if they don't notice you moving you might get away with it.

[Operagooner]

At ENO there is rampant seat-swapping but then it's generally emptier than ROH. Some people amusingly rush forwards a few rows to the front row of the balcony and then can't see properly because of the handrail. I've even seen one half of a couple move elsewhere before the performance has started - how romantic.