30 replies to this topic

[Backdrifter]

By the way I like the seats at the Royal Court Downstairs, one of the few auditoriums where I'm happy to sit mid-row (I usually sit front row or an aisle seat).

[siobhan]

BUSH THEATRE - Shepherds bush. AWWWWWWWWFULL! Even the one act plays are a nightmare.

Absolutely right about the Adelphi Circle (both of them), you cannot see properly and there is no room. I will not sit anywhere other than the stalls in that theatre.

[Ian]

I dislike any theatre with retractable seating - insufficiently padded, wobbly arm rests, noisy vibrating floors and the layout is hardly ever moved around anyhow in many theatres. The Courtyard Theatre at the West Yorkshire Playhouse is particularly bad.

[rainbow84uk]

Off the top of my head...

The stalls seat I sat in at the Savoy was horribly uncomfortable - leg room wasn't great but not the worst, but I had a numb backside and an aching back within minutes, and literally couldn't sit still for the first act! Only good point was that we didn't pay the full £60 for them - we'd been moved down from the back of the upper circle as it was so quiet that night.

Also remember having absolutely no legroom - to the point of actually being in pain - in the second row of the grand circle at the Victoria Palace (but these are only £25) and the balcony seats at Her Majesty's theatre too.

Some of the best seats I've ever sat in were front row day seats at the Apollo Victoria - £25 and a totally unrestricted view - and similarly at the Palladium a few years back, reduced price front row of stalls which had a damn good view and acres of legroom!

Lauren x

[Gavin]

Dominion and Apollo Vic are great. Palace is shockingly bad in the stalls,it's the legroom.

[Jaybee]

The Royal Court has fantastic seats. The Lyttelton's decent too.

The Novello, especially at the top, is unforgiveable bad. There is no leg room.

[Biddy]

Stalls _ Row B @ The Queens and they are top price !

Nothing wrong with my seat in Queens Stalls Row B when I sat there for LesMis June 2005 - & plenty of legroom
(which I need, with 2 iffy knees I often need to 'unclick').

[Biddy]

Palace is shockingly bad in the stalls,it's the legroom.

I thought it was only a few rows towards the back of the Palace Stalls which have lousy legroom (yes, I have sat in one).
(Offhand I can't remember which rows, though I thought it was 3 or 4 rows in the general area of M or O or thereabouts.)

Palace front stalls seem to me to have plenty of legroom -
& I've sat in several of the front few rows there (several from B to F I think).

EDIT:

I've found my notes re Palace Stalls legroom.
A young lady working in the Box Office (at some time during the last two and a half years) told me she thought
the rows with less legroom were Rows R & O & another.

It seems quite feasible that the other row might be the 1 row which is between O & R, ie Row P (there being NO Row Q).

(However, it's also quite feasible that the other row could be elsewhere!)

(Also, she might have misremembered - so don't take this as gospel: if booking in the Stalls, check!)

[Lou]

I sat in Row A in the stalls at the Palace recently and not only are the seats small anyway but there was hardly any legroom and that is on the front row, I dread to think what the rest of the rows are like.

[foxa]

Although the view is good, but distant, the first row of the amphitheatre at the ROH is a squash legwise and hipwise (at least if you have someone with 48 inch hips next to you, as I did recently.)  But the worst seats I've had at the ROH are the row B high chairs in the side balcony. I frequently get restricted view seats because they are a bargain and I knew these, though a little more expensive than some other restricted view seats, came with a restriction warning, but if you sat back in your seat you could see about a third of the stage - your view was restricted not only by the side wall, but also the balcony in front of you and people's heads.  Plus your legs felt like they were sort of dangling there and you had crick your neck to the side throughout. Only sit there if you want to hear the music and that's all!  

I hate the balcony at the Haymarket, but I can't explain why - I just feel inertia settling over me there and feel very, very distant from the action - any seat at the National seems better than those.

Agree about the Bush, but if it's a great play, it is fabulous seeing it in such an intimate space.