by Priscilla

Feb.04, 2010, under Backstage Blog

Working in the box office can be simple when people know exactly what they want, because you just try to give them the seats they require. For people that are not regular theatregoers it’s more about advising them what’s available, the best price and tickets for what they can afford.

Palace Theatre Box Office

Most of the business we get here is through the door. Most of the phone calls are from the cast or producers, as our ticketing partner deals with the majority of phone requests for tickets. A lot of the walk up is from people who have had the show recommended to them by their friends or family, which is proof of Priscilla’s really good word of mouth. The location of the Palace Theatre is also a real positive, being at the gateway of Soho it’s pretty hard to miss, particularly with a big sparkly shoe out front. We therefore get a lot of passing traffic, on occasion we’ve had people walking in asking if we have stamps or can cash travellers cheques thinking we are a post office. We have some very loyal and consistent fans, one of which brought fifty tickets in one go a few weeks ago.

I’ve worked at the Palace for 5 years and the company for 10 years. I’ve worked backstage and in IT and at a lot of the other theatres around London. I’ve been around the circuit so to speak.

The atmosphere in Priscilla is like none that I’ve ever encountered before. Often theatre is quite restrained, there are polite rounds of applause, the odd standing ovation, but here the audience are involved from the outset, laughing, clapping, cheering. It is a really good fun show where you can leave your troubles at the door.