21 replies to this topic

[ukmusic]

I read with interest all the messages and feel there are much more worthy people and causes to give free tickets to, like under privileged children and adults who would love to see a West End show but just cannot afford to, I had the privilege of speaking to some on Friday and fully appreciate how they must feel when they just do not have the funds to go. There are also many charities who I feel should get free tickets before websites like reviewsgate. On the reviews aspect is it right that reviewsgate and other critics should be given two free tickets to review a show when the leading members of the cast are close friends. Does it also take two people to review a show, so why take two free tickets, when one is all that's required.
I am also not singling out reviewsgate so its not a personal attack on them but everyone who gets free tickets that can afford them, including managers, PR companies, actor colleagues, free tickets should be for close family only at press night.
In the short of it they are just laughing at all us idiots who are paying up to £65 a ticket. Its time you producers did something about it, as its also taking money out of your pockets too with no return on your investment 99% of the time.

[Statler]

Stumbled across this thread on google and thought I'd contibute.  I've been running a review blog for just over 6 months and it includes reviews of shows I've seen since March 2006 - a total of around 40 productions.  We started the site because so many of the shows we see in Glasgow got so little conventional coverage, especially as we have a fondness for small scale productions, and it never crossed our minds to try to get free tickets.  However, that does bring problems of its own in that it tends to make our reviews sound overly positive due to the fact that we are pretty selective and only pay to see shows that we are fairly confident of enjoying.  In fact we had such a run of positive reviews we felt the need to specifcally address the subject in a post of its own - "Are You Positive?   So there are definite benefits of reviewers having free tickets as they can see shows outside their normal comfort zone and take a few more risks - of course there is no point in sending a musical-hater like myself to review the latest west end musical.  It should really be all about transparency - reviewers should have a stated policy on paying for or accepting free tickets.

But I do have a dilemma - View From The Stalls is purely for fun and to provide some feedback for productions that may otherwise receive very little, and at under 50 visitors per day there isn't ever going to be any point in seeking advertising.  It contains reviews of shows that we would see anyway and the reviewing aspect is entirely secondary.  However, I'm in a position where I could take a week or so off work to do a large number of reviews come Edinburgh Festival time but the costs of seeing so many shows would quickly mount beyond what I can justify spending (even with 2 for 1 offers etc)  I would feel bad applying for press/review tickets as Festival shows need the ticket sales more than most, but an additional review may get them a few more ticket sales over the run.  So, is it acceptable under any circumstances to request free tickets for reviewing purposes???