No longer a fan of theatre?!

Well, I didn’t expect to be providing an update quite so soon but the amount of correspondence, the pace of change and the surprising amount of catharsis and fun I’ve had this week, embracing a new Tight Bastard lifestyle – even though it’s still very early days – has necessitated one already. Dropping almost all non-essential spending does invariably mean I’m going to stop showing up for #BatFamilyForever related stuff for the foreseeable, apart from the stuff already booked in. Not that I ever attempted to go to everything anyway. It’s happened to other BOOH fans who we don’t see for a while because personal finances just don’t allow them to come out to concerts as much as they would like. Now, it’s my turn.

I’ve also reflected on how my relationship with theatre (for want of a better expression) has changed, and it’s been different for quite a while now. While sitting in the London Palladium at the 26th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards, it occurred to me that while I thought of myself as a punter (to cut a long story short I bought a ticket and let someone else in the reviews team do a writeup – and she did very well indeed) that isn’t how most other people I met during the evening thought of me. I wasn’t nearly as invested in who had been nominated for what as I was the first time I attended the WOS Awards in 2010. I’ve had a look back at my records – I paid £44.25 to sit in Row D of the Stalls back then.

I don’t even want to make public how much I paid in 2026 to sit upstairs. Let’s just say a TV Licence is marginally cheaper for the year. Of course, the production values are also much higher than sixteen years ago. Anyway, my arms-length approach to theatre as a critic (or reviewer, if you will), something which I’ve been doing for over a decade now, means I also approached the so-called Wossies with indifference. Not that I wasn’t pleased for the winners and nominees, but that I wasn’t rooting for anyone in particular to win anything, and only found myself agreeing with those who said in their speeches that everyone in their category is a winner.

Back to talking about the money, I joined the WOS Theatre Club in 2009 as a way of saving money on theatre tickets, and while I’ve paid for annual membership a couple of times over the past few years, they’ve lapsed without me making a single booking. So I’m throwing in the towel – I’m finally admitting I don’t identify as a fan of theatre anymore. I’m merely a critic of it. The lowest of the low, if you will (ha!). Paddington The Musical might well have picked up nine WhatsOnStage Awards. But no show is worth seeing for £180 or £250 (the two highest pricing points). It’s not the only show to charge three figures, and of course I acknowledge there are plenty of others that do not. Still, I just don’t have the motivation to pay to see anything at the moment.

The reviews calendar keeps me out of trouble, y’see. And so it shall keep me out of trouble all the more now that there will be fewer clashes, because there will fewer things I’ve paid to see. I also intend to use up the three screening credits left on my Curzon Cinemas membership before that is due for renewal towards the end of November this year, and then cancel that too. It seems quite ridiculous that I kept paying for membership for so many years only to find myself scrambling every October/November to find the time to use the credits up before I lose them. I’m not trying to do more with less. I’m trying to do less with less! And if for whatever reason the reviews dry up completely? Well, I’m ready to move on altogether, whenever that time comes. I’ve still never had a Netflix account. There are books I’ve never read, free online courses I’ve never embarked on, music of all kinds I’ve never properly sat down and listened to, genuinely good causes I’ve never volunteered for. And on and on.

Thanks to people who have provided me with tips. I’ve never stayed in Pollock Halls when at the Edinburgh Fringe, but that is apparently a decent option, and as I hope to reduce the number of shows I see at the Fringe (provided my frugality will allow me to bother going at all in future years) I’m more open to staying somewhere a little further out. And the words ‘shared bathroom’ don’t spook me nearly as much as they used to! I don’t think I need to be at the dead centre of it all like before, even though I will be one last time for Fringe 2026. Sixty-eight shows in two weeks is not something I ever want to do again, especially when running a reviews desk for a busy website with everything carrying on as normal in London (as well as the Camden Fringe) simultaneously. As they said in Come From Away, “STFD – slow the fuck down!” And that’s exactly what I intend to do. You only live once and all that.