Theatre Australia

your portal for australian theatre

And Now For Something Completely Different....

Fri, 19 Feb 1999, 08:00 am
Kimberley8 posts in thread
For those who are still reading after seeing my name at the top of this, I'd like you to think about the following.....There is a continuing problem in community theatre with people booking tickets and then not showing up. This is not a big deal until you "sell out" the house, turn people away, then find you have empty seats ( which by Murphy's Law will be the "best seats" ).As a result of this, several companies,( including both companies I'm a member of - I am NOT slamming anyone ), have introduced policies saying that you have to pick up your tickets prior to performance nights.Many patrons ( particularly regular community theatre goers ) find this difficult.Here is the challenge.Can anyone think of a system we can develop which could identify "low risk patrons " or regular theatregoers, meaning that a range of community theatres could accept their booking and payment at the door, without worrying that they are not going to turn up ?It would need to work with both box offices run from a person's house as well as those through independent agencies ( except perhaps BOCS....which would be too big an ask ).I've been playing with a couple of ideas......The questions are 1) Is it worth it ?2) Would it be feasable ?3) Do enough people care ?KimberleyPS - The Coralie debate has taken up too much room on the board. Please send any future arguments against me directly to my email.Incidently I thought the tone of my gripe about companies changing dates and details was light enough to be recognised as a dig at myself. I obviously dug myself so deep that Adam thought he would play undertaker. NEVER MIND I HAVE RISEN FROM THE DEAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: And Now For Something Completely Different....

Sat, 20 Feb 1999, 12:22 am
Hi JeffI like both of your suggestions and i've seen them work very well.> a) A simple solution is to enforce an arrival of ten or so min.s> before a show> or tickets may be re-sold. This would only occur on nights with> full house> bookings and the tickets have not been paid for.You need to be very clear with patrons when they book over the phone that their unpaid tickets will only be held until 10 minutes prior to the show after which time you reserve the right to cancel their booking and sell their tickets if it is a full house.For large group bookings you may still want to require some form of pre-payment.Otherwise an excellent solution.> b) You could also give special considerations to members over> other patrons.> For example, no ten minute dead-line or no prior payment options> (ie can pay> at door.)This could work in conjunction with the above suggestion, but would have to be done with the utmost discretion by your box office staff, so as not to upset the other patrons.CheersGrant

Thread (8 posts)

← Back to Green Room Gossip