It was announced last week that Brian Conley will star as Ebenezer Scrooge this Christmas, as an exciting new, musical staged concert of Alan Menken, Lynn Ahrens and Mike Ockrent’s A Christmas Carol will play a strictly limited season at the Dominion Theatre in London. Performances are due to run from Monday 7 December 2020 to Saturday 2 January 2021 and tickets are now on sale.
But some lone-theatre-goers online are less than happy that there are just six single seats available to purchase for each performance.
One Twitter user said “Try booking one seat at the Dominion … the answer i got at the box office was hilarious, “Its a family show” … so I guess me not having kids or a partner im not welcome.”
Another user said “There is only (6) single seats at the back or the far sides … I was at a theatre in London every weekend sometimes for more than one show and I know people go on their own to the theatre so why are we cast aside now for profit?”
I contacted representatives for A Christmas Carol at the Dominion Theatre who said “The technology required to safely seat audiences in line with current government guidelines is complex and necessitate the pre-allocation of group sizes from the outset. As such, the configuration of the theatre seating plan has been designed to create socially distanced bubbles based on the audience demographic, group size and historical booking patterns for a family show at the Dominion Theatre. We want to be able to welcome all patrons who wish to attend the show, whilst adhering strictly to social distancing guidelines and ensure the safety of audience members at all times.”
It seems that there are just two possible price brackets for single seats as well (£33.75 and £43.75), so any lone-theatre-goers have no opportunity but to sit in the ‘cheap seats’ as the top four price brackets, each giving a better view of the stage, are not available in single numbers. Perhaps at least a selection of single seats across all price tiers would have been more thoughtful to avoid single ticket buyers from feeling so unwelcome.
