Lesley Manville: West End ticket prices are 'prohibitive'

Lesley Manville has branded the cost of ticket prices at West End theatres "prohibitive" and said audiences are more risk averse as a result.

Speaking at the announcement of the Olivier nominations earlier today, Manville, who won Best Actress last year for Ghosts, told journalists "the West End needs to address ticket prices."

Citing the National's Travelex scheme as a positive example, she said: "That [scheme] absolutely changed the demographic of the audience at the National… The audiences there are mixed in every way. The West End is less so because of the prohibitive ticket prices."

Manville, who announced the Olivier nominees alongside James McAvoy, added that the result of higher prices is that audiences are becoming more conservative when deciding what to see.

"If you're paying £100 plus you don't want to come away thinking 'that was a waste of my money and I can't afford to go again soon'," she said. "It makes people less risky with their choice."

See the full list of nominees for this year's Olivier Awards