Theatre is a wonderful yet expensive hobby, to say the least. After watching a couple of plays back to back, it starts to add up, especially if your someone who makes it a must to have the best seats in house. Avid theatregoers may have previously enjoyed watching the adventures of Glinda the Good and Elphaba in Wicked, Sophie on her quest to find her father in Mamma Mia or, more recently, Cady taking on Regina George in Tina Fey’s musical adaptation of Mean Girls or enjoyed a night of nostalgia with a blast from the past reliving the king of pop’s meteoric rise to success in MJ The Musical. However, London’s theatre scene is not merely restricted to the West End, it doesn’t take a deep dive to see that the city’s entertainment scene extends to all four corners.
Looking to find apps for cheap tickets? Relish in your love for live performance without breaking the bank? Discover new venues to enjoy theatre beyond the classics? Well then, look no further today and discover the best London theatre student discounts.
Bush Theatre
Whether you’re a West London resident or just willing to go the distance for leisure, Bush Theatre is a great and affordable choice for students. If you’re unsure about visiting, you may be convinced upon finding out that they’re the masterminds behind the hit Shifters. After previously having a sold out run, it has most recently transferred to the Duke of York Theatre for the upcoming autumn.
The theatre offers two discounts for students, with the first being for both students and anyone under the age of 26 for £5 off standard tickets. The second discount for students involves signing up for a Bush Connect membership, (free to sign up for anyone under 30) giving them access to £10 off full-price tickets, special ticket offers, notifications of giveaways and competitions and 20% off food and drinks.
Hammersmith and Fulham residents can also get involved in free opportunities offered by the theatre, including taking part in the Bush Young Company. So why not visit and watch one of their many outstanding productions such as The Real Ones for a story of platonic soulmates tugging at the heartstrings or come along Yusuf’s journey of discovering who his late father truly was in his youth in Statues.
National Theatre
It’s no surprise the National Theatre is a popular destination for regular and occasional theatregoers, as well as students looking for cheap theatre tickets. With their modern retellings of classics as well as their constant output of innovative new plays, selling out is the least of their worries. The theatre’s popularity, unlike many, has crossed over into the mainstream media beyond reviews for past productions such as Dear England, hitting the big screen in cinemas and its own streaming platform, National Theatre at Home. The National reaches over 40,000 young people each year with their nationwide learning programmes alone, not to mention the many they attract through affordable discounted tickets.
All year round, students between the ages of 16-25 can unlock tickets to performances for £10 or under for select performances. To get this discount, all students must do is click the link to the play they would like to see, find a date and time listing £10 tickets, purchase and then bring photo ID when attending the performance.
Students can also save by purchasing Friday Rush tickets. Between 12:30pm-1pm, students will have the opportunity to secure their place in a virtual queue and eventually purchase up to two tickets from the select batch of £10 tickets available for the upcoming weeks’ performances. For more information on student discounts at the National Theatre visit their website. You can also get information on the workshops and courses available for young people to participate in all year round.
The Old & Young Vic
Rightfully so, two of London’s most well known theatres offer discounts for students. Lambeth and Southwark residents can sign up for a free OV Local membership at The Old Vic and enjoy 20% off on up to four tickets per show as well as 20% off all food and drinks available.
For further discounts, students can head on over to The Old Vic’s younger sibling, which is The Young Vic. Full-time students and those under 25 are able to purchase tickets starting at £12 for all productions. The only requirement is to bring either proof of age or full-time student status when collecting tickets at the box office. Both theatres offer £10 tickets for preview shows.
TodayTix
TodayTix is the holy grail for students looking for discounted theatre tickets. Whether you’d like tickets to see a classic or something new, I’d strongly suggest finding storage space for this app on your phone. TodayTix is dedicated to providing reasonably priced tickets across London and other major cities globally.
Students can access discounts in three ways via the app, with the first being Rush tickets. Ranging between £20-£30, accessible at just a click of a button, Rush tickets are available for just under 30 productions, allowing students to choose between experiencing the West End stage or opting for an original production from smaller theatres. The second way students can access discounts on the app is through purchasing lottery tickets for as cheap as £10.
The lottery system works by allowing app users to select all the dates and showtimes that they can attend for the upcoming week in an attempt to secure up to two tickets. All ticket winners are then selected at random and have 30 minutes to secure their discounted-price tickets. If not, their tickets will be reassigned to another entrant.
The Daily Dozen is the last way to grab affordable tickets. This is when a limited number of digital day seats are released on every performance day at 10 am. The Daily Dozen is currently exclusive to Wicked performances, so why not grab a ticket for £29.50 today and treat it as a crash course on everything you need to know before the vocal powerhouse that is Ariana Grande and Academy Award winner Cynthia Erivo arrive at the big screen later this year in the musical’s film adaptation.
Now you know everything you need to about the best London theatre student discounts, a tempting last minute matinée performance or an evening show is no longer off the table whilst living on a student budget. So, whether you came reading in expectation of finding a platform for the best ticket discounts or new venues to watch shows, not only have you probably found both but also learned you can most definitely enjoy the arts whilst being financially savvy.
Find more student discounts in London on our page for even more affordable things to do in the city.
