FRIDAY NIGHT OUT FOR ONLY A FIVER
Looking for a cheaper night out and for something outside of the norm? Well, anyone aged from 14 to 25 can go to the theatre to see cutting edge performances for just five pounds, thanks to the Theatre Royal in Plymouth. They have a commitment to encouraging and enabling young audiences to attend the theatre more often and this season introduced their Friday Fiver scheme. This allows anyone aged 25 or under to attend performances in the Drum or the Theatre Royal for just £5 on Friday evenings (terms and conditions apply).
The Friday Fiver builds on the success of Theatre Royal’s young audience membership scheme, A Night Less Ordinary (ANLO) which was a 2 year national free ticket initiative funded by Arts Council England (ACE) which began in 2009. The ACE funding was to facilitate the scheme across the country developing young theatre audiences by offering complimentary tickets to anyone under the age of 26. Since the scheme started, over 8,000 young people have signed up to be Theatre Royal ANLO members and over 8,000 free tickets have been issued. It has been an invaluable experiment in audience development and has been extremely successful in increasing awareness and interest in theatre going amongst young people in Plymouth.
Despite the fact that ACE have now stopped funding the ANLO scheme nationally, the Theatre Royal has taken the decision to continue with the membership scheme locally and to expand the offer to enable all young people (not just ANLO members) to see a show for £5 on a Friday.
Marianne Locatori, Theatre Royal Sales & Marketing Director said: “We know that young people who have been part of the scheme so far have been to see more shows, more often and have felt able to take a risk seeing something that they wouldn’t have previously seen. We hope the Friday Fiver scheme will enable more young people to attend independently and experience a broader range of shows or even attend for the first time.”
ANLO members Alex Crumley and Rachel Knight said: “The Friday Fiver is a great way for us to have a really good night out for less than it costs to go to the cinema.”
Check out www.theatreroyal.com for more info
