A pantomime box office has three decisions to make before it sells a single ticket: how many seats there are, what they cost, and how people get hold of them. Everything after that is bookkeeping with the odd emergency. I’ve written this for whoever in an amateur group has been handed the cash tin (or, these days, the laptop), and I’m assuming you know your performance venue far better than I do!
Know Your Number
One figure drives most of what follows, and that’s the number of people you can seat. Rows for the matinee, a gap for wheelchair spaces and a clear route for the Dame’s entrance all change it, so settle the layout first and let the number follow.
That figure also sets your licence band, because our licence fee follows the venue’s maximum seating capacity rather than the tickets you sell. And if the run goes so well that a third weekend starts to look tempting, an extra performance needs arranging and paying for before its tickets go on sale.
Pricing the Run
There’s no single right price list. Some groups charge one price for everyone, some split adult and child, and some add concessions and a family ticket as well. I’d keep the list as simple as you can, because the simpler the list, the quicker the queue, though the more categories you have, the more people you can welcome at a price that suits them.
A rough sum helps whichever you choose. Divide the total budget by the number of tickets you realistically expect to sell across the whole run (not the number of seats in the hall), and you have the average price you need to break even. It is an average, so concessions, family tickets and complimentary tickets will pull it around, and any ticketing fees come on top. Our guide to what a pantomime costs to stage covers the other side of that sum.
If you do offer concessions and a family ticket, define them exactly (two adults and two children, say) and apply them to every performance, because a vague definition turns into confusion at the door. Whether matinees and evenings cost the same, and whether the final night gets a ‘fill the house’ offer, are best decided before any of it is printed on a poster.
Some online ticketing platforms charge the seller and some add a fee for the buyer. The CMA’s price transparency guidance says a fee every buyer has to pay belongs in the price they see first, so I’d build it into the ticket price and let the price on the poster be the price paid. Platforms change their rates now and then, so look at the current fee page before you commit.
Getting People Booked
Online booking, a phone number, a table in the foyer and a cash tin all work, and they can be combined. A cash tin makes a perfectly good box office, right up to the second night, when somebody asks who paid for what. Whichever routes you use, the aim is the same, which is one list per performance, so that Row C doesn’t get sold twice. Reserved seats mean a seating plan and fewer discussions; open seating is simpler to run and rewards the people who arrive early. Both are fine, and the hall usually decides.
If you take reservations before payment, decide how long you’ll hold them and when unpaid seats go back on sale. It matters most for phone bookings and the foyer table, where a reservation can sit there looking like a sale until the week of the show.
The poster needs the credit line from the licence, along with dates and a venue that are definitely settled before it goes to print. The marketing rules that come with a licence set out the rest, and the booking page is publicity too, so it can carry the same credit. Each script page also gives an approximate running time. Aladdin and Snow White, for example, both run for an hour and fifty minutes plus interval, so add your interval and a few minutes at each end and print a finish time next to the start time.
Access, Companions and Complimentary Tickets
It helps to have access arrangements settled before bookings open, so nobody is making policy at the door. NODA’s guidance for amateur groups covers carer and companion tickets, and a free ticket for an essential companion is a common way of making the reasonable adjustment the Equality Act 2010 asks of anyone putting on a show. A sentence or two on the booking page saying how to ask for one, and who to contact with any access question, does most of the work, and keeping the questions to what you need to seat people well keeps it welcoming. Holding back a few wheelchair spaces, each with a seat beside it, and letting people book them by phone or email as well as online, means you can seat everyone properly.
Complimentary tickets for cast, crew and invited guests deserve a decision too. A set number per person and a date for claiming them keeps the busiest nights from being quietly given away, and since they still take up seats, they belong in your sums as well.
Keeping Sales Moving
Opening bookings on an announced date, with previous ticket-buyers told first, gives the run a proper start. A separate, unticked box at checkout is a straightforward way to ask people whether they’d like to hear about next year’s show, and the ICO’s guidance on electronic marketing covers the detail. Our guide to marketing a pantomime covers the publicity side.
The first rush of bookings eases, so I’d plan a second wave before it does: casting news, rehearsal photos, a reminder about the last few seats for the final weekend. A glance at sales for each performance every week tells you when to send it. A busy Saturday evening can hide a quiet Thursday or Sunday matinee, and one date with a few seats left is an easier thing to promote than the whole run.
A line on the booking page about refunds and exchanges, in line with consumer rights, and a plan to refund anyone if a performance is cancelled, stops most worries before they start.
The Door on the Night
A printed list for each performance, in surname order and marked with access needs, is the one script the whole door team needs to have learned. Agree in advance what happens to anyone arriving after the lights go down, and who can sort out a booking problem. When the curtain falls, a quick tally of the list, the cash and the platform’s report while it’s all fresh gives you figures by performance: tickets sold, complimentary tickets and income. They show which nights filled and whether the matinee paid for itself.
A full house is lovely, but it isn’t the only measure. A healthy profit without every seat sold is an excellent outcome, and a run of sell-outs may mean there’s room for another performance next time. Either way, those figures make next year’s choice of script easier, because they show how many seats you can realistically fill. To read any of our scripts in full before you decide, request a free Perusal Script, or browse the full catalogue to compare titles. When you’re ready to book, our Performance Licences page covers what you need. If you’ve got questions, please visit our home page, which has plenty of helpful links, check out our Frequently Asked Questions, or contact us.