London's Theatres

by Kat Parr Mackintosh (subscribe)

Streams of people come into London every day – if you're a local you'll know this first hand as you'll have been stuck behind slow moving visitors on the street, or even worse the Tube's escalators. Some of them come for the museums, some of them come for the history, some of them come 'cause they think they're going to be able to meet the Queen, and some of the come to see a show.

The lights and big names of London's West End are a big draw for visitors, many of whom don't even have a particular show in mind when they plan their trip to London - they're just content to sand in the queue of the Half Price Ticket Booth in Leicester Square and find out what's on offer. But as a local you'll know that it pays to book in advance, either via the show's website, where you'll get the best seating options, or via one of the ticket sales websites.

You'll also know what's good having read the reviews. Your Les Mises and Phantom of the Operas are kept full by tourists and out of town visitors, but as a local, who's got a more sophisticated style of booking and could see them any time, you'll probably be more interested in the latest Shakespeare - the one with the all star cast, or a brand-new-never-seen-before-play, or something funny on Shaftsbury Ave.

But it's not just the West End that you have your choice of as a Londoner, you also have first dibs on what's coming up at Shakespeare's Globe - where you can see the best of the bard, just the way audiences did in his day, standing up in the evening air. You can get your £12 Travelex tickets to see the latest and freshest new work coming out of The National Theatre. Pay less than a cinema ticket to see some of the world's finest ballet and opera at The Royal Opera House, The Coliseum and The Royal Albert Hall. See something a bit more modern at Sadlers Wells or the Barbican, or possibly even see London's favourite Artistic Director, Kevin Spacey, appear in one of his productions for The Old Vic. Not a bad set of choices when it comes to deciding how to spend a Thursday evening.

And that's before you consider London's many smaller and fringe theatres. So embrace the side of the capital that the visitors come for and start paying attention to the cheap theatre deals constantly advertised in the free papers and get out there and get some culture into you.

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Why? A theatre ticket is often cheaper than a cinema ticket

When: There's something on every night.

Where: There are theatres all over town, but most of them are in central London and the west end.

Cost: From less than £5