Tim Dowling: our campaign to become theatregoers isn’t going well…

At the start of the year my wife launched a campaign for us to go to the theatre more, echoing my 2018 attempt that failed after she pronounced it stupid. She places her open laptop in front of me; the screen shows a schematic of a partially filled London theatre with available seats highlighted.

She objects to the outlay — “The tickets are £50 each, which is ridiculous” — and refuses to pay £150 for three seats together. After several fraught exchanges I have two nights at the theatre in my calendar. On the first night we arrive early but my wife cannot find the tickets on her phone and the usher ends up printing them manually; I feel very old.

We take seats in the second row for £25 and I fretted about being too close, reminding her of a circus incident where clowns dragged me into the ring. She points out it’s a musical and says, “How marvellous.” On the second night we emerge from the tube into light rain and she tells me she’s enjoying our theatre-going lifestyle.

United Kingdom, London

tim dowling, theatre, london theatre, tickets, ticket prices, musical, second row, usher, tube, campaign