Remember GSCE drama trips? When your class screamed their way through The Woman In Black before you all got detention for taking photos on your Motorola Razr? Sadly, we can probably count on two hands the number of times we’ve actually been to the theatre off our own backs since then. Whether it’s the mental ticket prices or that fact that we’d rather go to the pub, we’re averaging about a play a year. Not good is it? How are we meant to be the well-rounded adults we all aspire to be if we're spending our money on pubs, not plays?
So, seeing as you've (hopefully) just been paid, put your pennies to good use and book a theatre ticket. After all, the inflation of cinema ticket prices is rising faster than the inner-city housing market, so you’re only looking at a little extra poundage for the cheap seats at the back.
Here’s the tickets on our wishlist.
Microcosm, Soho Theatre, London, £15
Considering the excitement surrounding this play, these seats are a steal at £15 each. Starring Philip McGinley (aka Anguy from Game Of Thrones) and written by award-winning writer Matt Hartley, the play looks at paranoia in an everyday setting. Don’t go alone and then get the night bus home. Do take all your friends and spend the next week talking about it.
Things We Do For Love, UK tour, tickets start at £11.90
If 90s fashion is back again, then the decade’s plays get the green light too, yes? This one’s a classic by renowned playwright Alan Ayckbourn. There’s relationships, friendship, lust, love, Natalie Imbruglia.... The set is incredible. It’s designed to show a flat and half of the rooms above and below it, so the audience has to second-guess the goings-on in the other levels.
Bitch Boxer, Bristol Old Vic, £12
Bitch Boxer was the sellout hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Set in London during the 2012 Olympics, Chloe’s a boxer competing in her home town, trying to stay focused on her life’s goal in the midst of two life-changing events. As it’s name suggests, this one’s supercharged enough to make you want to bypass the foyer bar and head out for interval training as soon as the lights come up.
Catch-22, various UK theatres. Tickets start at £12.90
This adaption of the cult book about a soldier at war battling against injury and insanity is your one-way ticket to being one of those who nod knowingly every time this book is mentioned, even though you've been putting off reading it for ages. This production, directed by Rachel Chavkin, is the first to tour the UK, so wherever you live there are no excuses not to give it a go.
Let The Right One In, Apollo Theatre, London, tickets start from £10
If The Woman In Black made you a tad jumpy, then Let The Right One In will haunt you for the rest of your days. It’s based on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Swedish horror novel and film, and has been rewritten for the stage by BAFTA award-winning Jack Thorne, who showcased his writing skills on Shameless, Skins and This Is England ’86 and ’88. So basically, this is the result of the collaboration between two absolute geniuses. In case you’re not already convinced, it’s about the love between a young vampire and her human admirer and set in the Gothic Scottish Highlands. Go.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.