Lyceum subs up
Subscription season increases between 4.5 and 8.5%
Lyceum season ticket renewals go on sale this week, as the theatre announces details of its seven play subscriber season for 2016/17.
Prices for this, the first season in David Greig’s tenure as artistic director, will increase to £133 for matinee performances and £161 for evening performances.
David Greig with set of The Iliad. Photo Colin Hattersley
This represents an increase for matinee attendees of 8.5% from £122.50 and an increase of 4.5% for evening performances, from last year’s rate of £154. Season tickets for students and under 26s increase to £63 from £52.
The season ticket prices all represent a substantial saving on the cost of individual tickets, which have risen by £1 across the board – with the exception of matinee standard seats which are up £2 and student/under 26 tickets which remain at £10.
Public booking opens on June 11, but existing season ticket holders will all get letters this week giving full details of the new season and how to renew.
David Greig was very supportive of the subscriber system when Æ spoke to him about the new season. “I really love that we have subscribers,” he said. “I think it is brilliant that people are so supportive, that they feel that they are part of the Lyceum and they feel that trust and faith.”
While he acknowledged that the seven plays might include some that are “quite risky and new”, he emphasised that several are “real treats”, such as Noel Coward’s Hay Fever and Jumpy staring Daniela Nardini directed by Cora Bissett.
vibrant and varied and vivid
The subscriber season represents slightly over half the number of main stage productions in 2016/17, as Greig seeks to thwart the cuts by increasing the number of productions staged over the year. The downside of this is that some productions run for shorter periods, with four of the seven shows in the subscriber season running for only two weeks.
This, Greig acknowledges, could cause logistical problems for some season ticket holders.
He said: “There is an unfortunate thing that there are some people who have traditionally always had their seat in the third week of a run. When we do a two week run, we are having to jumble people around a bit.
“So there are a number of people who, for a number of years, have had the same seat for the same point in the year and that is going to have to be jumbled up a bit for some people, for some productions during the year.
“What I say to those people is first of all I hope that we are able to recompense them with our good will and in other ways. But the genuine benefit is that by doing this it means that we can put on 10, 11 plays and that the theatregoing experience in Edinburgh becomes more vibrant and varied and vivid.”
Subscribers will also get a discount on other productions over the year that are not part of the subscription season.
The Subscription Season in Full
The Suppliant Women
Sat 1 – Sat 15 Oct 2016
David Greig’s first play for The Lyceum main stage as its artistic director re-unites the creative team behind 2013 hit The Events to stage the first ever English-language production in the UK of one of the world’s oldest plays. Aeschylus’ ancient Greek tragedy tells the story of fifty young women who escape forced marriages in Egypt and seek asylum in Greece
Jumpy
Thurs 27 Oct – Sat 12 Nov 2016
Daniela Nardini returns to the Lyceum for the first time since 1994, when she played Mary in Liz Lochhead’s Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. Sitting in the audience back in 1994 was Cora Bissett, before she went off to drama school, who also returns to direct and bring a Scottish twist to this deliciously irreverent hit West End comedy of mid-life crisis, teenage rebellion and a mother-daughter relationship in meltdown.
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Fri 13 – Sat 28 Jan 2017
A haunting ghost story from the arid heat of the Australian outback for the depths of the Scottish winter with the UK premiere of this adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel – subsequently filmed by Peter Weir in 1975.
The Winter’s Tale
Thurs 9 Feb – Sat 4 March 2017
Shakespeare’s timeless tale of love, betrayal and magic will be directed by acclaimed artist Max Webster, who recently directed The Lorax. Max will bring a distinctive Scottish flair with a cast of actor-musicians.
Hay Fever
Fri 10 Mar – Sat 1 April 2017
The Glasgow Citizens’ artistic director Dominic Hill, known for the darkness of his productions, turns his hand to Noel Coward’s riotous farce for this co-production. “I’ve always loved Hay Fever,” he says. “It is a genuinely funny and insightful play with an acerbic cruelty that lifts it above a simple comedy of manners.”
Charlie Sonata
Sat 29 April – Sat 13 May 2017
Comedy and redemption in an urban booze-soaked fairytale. As you might expect from Douglas Maxwell. Directing this world premiere will be Matthew Lenton.
Glory on Earth
Sat 20 May – Sat 10 June 2017
Linda Maclean re-imagines the seven historic meetings between Mary Queen of Scots and John Knox, charted with precision by Knox. A charming young queen and an uncompromising old zealot battle for the hearts and souls of 16th century Scotland. David Greig directs this world premiere.
ENDS
Still a bargain!