Ticket Prices for U.K.'s First StageCon Too High, So Event is Cancelled

London's West End. Photo: Tom Eversley/Shutterstock

For theatre fans in the U.K. hoping for their own version of BrodwayCon, news broke last week that they’re going to have to keep waiting.

It was announced that the country’s first ever “StageCon” would be postponed until sometime in 2019. The reason? Backlash over the prices of tickets.

The event was supposed to take place on November 3rd and 4th but due to the tremendous negative response over pricing, organizers were forced to postpone.

Given that this was the first year of the event, I agree that the pricing was too high. A single day pass would have cost £85 ($111.58) and a weekend pass cost £160 ($210.03). For the record, the average price of a ticket on the West End is £28 ($36.75).

For comparison’s sake BroadwayCon, now in its fourth year and within their right to raise prices, costs $80 for a single day price and $195 for the weekend.

Because of many factors, including subsidies from the government, theatre ticket prices in the U.K. are generally lower than what you might find on Broadway. So I don’t blame fans for being shocked and angered that StageCon was going to cost nearly four times the cost of seeing a show.

So here’s hoping that U.K. theatre fans get their own version of BroadwayCon. Events like these bring people from all walks of life together in celebration of the theatrical arts and every country should be able to experience that.