The National Theatre has waged war on middle-class families with ‘dynamic pricing’ in a bid to offer ‘accessibility prices’ seats for students and the unemployed.
The publicly funded theatre announced it had started adjusting supply and demand pressures for certain shows in line with its vow to offer 25 per cent of tickets for £30 or less.
And while cheaper seats are available to all, they are limited to two tickets per customer.
However, ‘reduced standby’ seats priced at £20, £25 or £30 will only be available to students, theatre union members and the unemployed an hour before a show begins.
And as such, middle-class families face paying more to sit in the audience for the most popular shows.
Dynamic pricing is a model where firms adjust ticket prices automatically when demand is higher than supply.
One father claimed that for War Horse tickets at the National Theatre on Saturday in June for himself, his partner and two children, he was quoted £440.
Another person was offered a price of £160 for the same tickets for the same number of people at the Monday performance.
Meanwhile, one person said he had been quoted £162 for two Les Liaisons Dangereuses – a new show featuring Poldark’s Aidan Turner.
However, he then received another quote at £220 for the same show starring Lesley Manville for nearly identical seats.
It comes as families receiving benefits can claim substantial discounts at major UK attractions, while those working pay more than £100 for the same trips.
A family of four can visit the Tower of London for just £4 instead of £111 if one parent receives universal credit.
While entry to Buckingham Palace, which is typically £99 for a family of four, is just £1 a ticket for those on universal credit, a saving of £95 for two adults and two children.
More than 80 attractions give discounts to benefit claimants, with MPs reacting furiously to the loophole, with one saying the system created a ‘two-tier system that punishes work’.
London Zoo offers universal credit claimants an £82 reduction, reducing a family ticket down from £108 to £26.
Westminster Abbey provides a £60 saving from its standard £62 family price, costing families just £2.
HMS Belfast provides a £68 saving, with St Paul’s Cathedral, Kew Gardens, Kensington Palace and the Cutty Sark all offering similar reductions.
Around 106,000 visitors used £1 tickets to gain entry to the Tower of London from April 2025 to March 2026, Historic Royal Palaces said.
Meanwhile, London Zoo sold 300,000 reduced tickets in 2024/25, requiring only a screenshot or PDF as proof of eligibility.
Christopher Swindon from the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank also warned that people will face paying more to cover ticket prices for other groups.
Mr Snowdon said: ‘The UK has a whole web of subsidies and discounts that are not officially a part of the welfare state but which nonetheless redirect money from those who do not claim benefits to those who do.’
A National Theatre spokesperson told the Telegraph: ‘In common with many performing arts organisations, the National Theatre does occasionally adjust prices as this supports our ability to offer a large quantity of accessibly priced tickets £30 or under.’
They added that their booking fee, priced at £4, was ‘in line with the many other publicly subsidised at venues’, adding that groups like students were exempt.
A spokesperson for the National Theatre said: ‘At the National Theatre, we are committed to keeping our work affordable and accessible to everyone – 25% of tickets are £30 or under on the South Bank this year.
‘In common with many performing arts organisations, the National Theatre does occasionally adjust prices as this supports our ability to offer a large quantity of accessibly priced tickets at £30 or under.
‘We don’t increase the price or the proportion of our lowest priced tickets, and we never exceed our advertised top price.’
