How to get £10 tickets for Benedict Cumberbatch's Hamlet

When tickets for Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch went on sale earlier this year, many fans were left disappointed as the Barbican production sold out in record breaking time.

However theatregoers will be 'as merry as the day is long' as producer Sonia Friedman today announces 100 affordable seats, priced at £10, for every performance of the play’s 12-week run.

There's two ways for you to get your hands on this year's hottest ticket:

1. Through an online ballot

60 seats for every performance will be sold in advance. Replicating the Donmar Warehouse's recent success with their ballot for The Vote, you will be able to sign up for the online ballot on the Barbican website from 10am today until June 16. Successful applicants will be notified by email on June 19.

2. Dayseats

30 tickets will be sold on the day of each performance. You'll need to queue up at the theatre and the tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. We imagine the queue will start very early and we'd even go as far as to suggest that some fans will queue through the night to get their hands on a ticket to see Mr C.

The remaining ten tickets will be offered to various charities that work with underprivileged young people and, according to Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail, there’s also a chance that more seats will be released ahead of each performance.

Talking to the Daily Mail, Friedman said that it is "important that our industry, when we can, finds ways to make theatre accessible to as wide an audience as possible".

Hamlet runs at the Barbican Centre from 5 August – 31 October with an NT Live broadcast to cinemas nationwide on 15 October.