The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) appears to have defied the recession so far and has posted record figures in terms of attendances and receipts for 2008. This is despite the recent plethora of shows closing early.

The total received from the sale of theatre tickets in 2008 was £480.5 million which was a 3 per cent increase on 2007’s record receipts. Attendances totalled 13.8 million which was 1 per cent up on 2007.

The breakdown is interesting with musicals up 1 per cent while plays were down by the same amount. Musicals were clearly bolstered by the record advance sale for the revival of Lionel Bart’s ‘Oliver’ starring Rowan Atkinson, and Jodie Prenger who won the BBC’s television reality show ‘I’d Do Anything’.

The results were totalled from 52 theatres, commercial and subsidised, but did not include SOLT affiliate theatres. They were however the same theatres as in last year’s survey so make for a very accurate comparison.

Many have been predicting dire consequences for the theatre industry and the West End in particular. Most recently, acclaimed director Trevor Nunn was quoted widely to that effect.

It seems that even during a credit crunch, people still need to be entertained. Indeed, many would argue that people need escapism even more.

Tags: london theatre sales 2008

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Theatre News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.