Box office figures published today by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) show 2015 to be a strong year for London theatres with rises in both revenue and average weekly attendance.
London’s theatre’s took £633,778,537 at the box office in 2015, up 1.6% on the previous year, generating £105,629,756 in VAT for the treasury.
Average weekly attendance rose to 283,511 from 278,205 in 2014. While overall attendance of 14,742,588 was down 0.02% on last year, a quirk of reporting means that 2014 included 53 weeks against 2015’s 52.
Speaking about the results, Caro Newling, President of SOLT, said: “Audiences have yet again demonstrated an ever-increasing appetite for theatre on a scale that plants London theatre front and centre of cultural life. The range of productions on offer, coupled with initiatives to encourage new generations to enjoy live performance, has clearly hit the mark. The value of the investment is measured in pounds but the enrichment derived goes far beyond the numbers of seats sold.”
The statistics gather by SOLT, the organisation representing London’s theatre owners, producers and managers, which also runs this website, show that the popularity of musicals continues to grow. Attendances at musicals rose 4% to 8,266,104 in 2015, while attendances at plays showed a dip of 5% to 4,116,250.
The healthy figures are released as the industry prepares to celebrate the very best of the past 12 months of theatre in London at the Olivier Awards 2016 with MasterCard.
Nominees for UK theatre’s most prestigious prizes will be announced at an event, hosted by Michael Ball, on Monday. Theatre fans can watch the nominees announced via a livestream at the Olivier Awards website.
Ball will return to host the Olivier Awards ceremony at the Royal Opera House on Sunday 3 April.
As news partner of the Olivier Awards, Official London Theatre will be on hand at both events to bring you the news as it happens. Stay up to date by following us on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow the Olivier Awards on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.