Top 10 London Theatre Tips

Anyone who knows me will know how much I absolutely LOVE going to the theatre and especially how much I love my musicals. So here are my Top 10 Tips for London Theatre trips.

1.  TAKE IT WITH YOU - Drinks and sweets are SO expensive at the theatre. When we went to see Wicked I ended up paying £3 for a bottle of Pepsi. I mean seriously how can they justify charging that much for a bottle of Pepsi??? Needless to say next time we went we called to Sainsbury's on the way to get supplies. 
2. TRY RESTRICTED VIEW - OK so not all restricted view can work in your favour but it is seriously worth a look. We have done restricted view tickets twice now. We saw the Wizard of Oz last year in October on restricted view for £15 on the front row and the only things you could not see was the dog and the yellow brick road. We also did restricted view when we went to see wicked a few weeks ago and were really far on the left but we were 5 rows back on row E. Again there were bits we didnt see but 95% of it we could see. 
3. WAIT UNTIL LAST MINUTE/ON THE DAY - Last year in October when we went to London we stumbled upon the Palladium while walking down Regent Street and it was 10 minutes before the show was due to start. We ended up with front row seats for £15. I am pretty sure they would rather sell the tickets for cheap at the last minute than have the seats go empty. 
4. UNDER 26 OFFERS - If your a theatre lover like me and under 26 you may remember a little thing a few years back called a night less ordinary with free/discounted theatre tickets for the under 26's. When we went a few weeks ago we discovered that (at least one) theatres in London do such offers for tickets at discount prices. Check the websites to find out about these offers. Cambridge Theatre where Matilda is currently showing offer 8 seats for every show at just £5!! However these are very restricted view (back of the upper circle). Plus you need to get there extremely early to be in with a chance. We got there at near 9 o clock (when the theatre opens at 10) and we were like 11 and 12 in line (gutted!!!) 
5. BOOK ONLINE - There are 100's of sites out there - shop around before booking. Try sites like ticket master where you can choose your own seats. 
6. LEICESTER SQUARE - There are loads of ticket booths here and some offer some great discounts. We always use London Theatre Bookings which is on the right as you get off the tube. 
7. BE CONSCIOUS - Not all of the theatres like you to take pictures inside of the main theatre - even if it is before the show/interval. Her Majesty's theatre and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane are 2 of the ones we have found. 
8. TRY BEFORE YOU BUY - West End Live is a great way to get a snippet of each show (full review coming soon) or have a look on Youtube for some clips of the shows you want to see. 
9. BE OPEN MINDED - Think you may not enjoy something or not 100% sure. Try it - you may be surprised. We were not 100% sure when we went to see Shrek with it being a film first but we really enjoyed it and it was hilarious! 
10. DO NOT ARRIVE LATE - I can not stress this enough! DO NOT ARRIVE LATE! I was shocked by how many people came in after the show had started! Even more annoying - if you know you have tickets in the middle of a row dont ruin it for everyone else! Get there early.

 Do you have any favorite shows? Anything you want to see?