London Theatre Tickets - A Bargain Hunter's Guide

I've been asked a bit how I see so many shows at the theatre, and I'm expecting several similar comments when I post my stage and screen recap in a few days' time, so thought I'd share some of the sites I use. My philosophy is to see ALL THE THINGS wherever possible, even if that means going for less than ideal seats - in fairness, I find most of the theatres in London have few really bad seats (and Theatremonkey is invaluable for avoiding them!)

LastMinute.com - I went with Debbie to see Guys and Dolls a few weeks ago, expecting to be stuck towards the back of the theatre as we'd paid just £15 each, and we somehow ended up with second row tickets in the stalls! This was AMAZING and if you're not bothered where you sit you can get some very nice surprises like this.

WestEndTheatre.com - Taking a chance on Showstopper: The Improvised Musical as I'd heard mixed things, me and Debbie found tickets for it for just £15 each here. This was well worth seeing, and we got great tickets in the centre of the stalls for that price.

LoveTheatre.com - Hit and miss at times in terms of bargains but occasionally have some great things! I saw Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games (again with Debbie!) for £10 each last year.

Sadler's Wells/The Peacock Theatre - The two Sadler's Wells theatres are the ones I go to the most often as I love dance! (I also organise frequent #DanceYA trips to both.) With tickets starting from just £15 at the back of the stalls (great view!) and £12 towards the back of the second circle in Sadler's Wells, and most shows having 20% off if you book two shows at the same time, there are huge bargains available. We've seen too many brilliant shows to list here, but stand-out are The 7 Fingers' Traces, Rasta Thomas's hip-hop Romeo and Juliet, and a couple of wonderful Matthew Bourne productions.

PWC Previews - The Old Vic does half of the tickets for each of the first five previews of most shows there for just £10! I've seen The Lorax, in the stalls with my friend Stacey, and The Master Builder (with Ralph Fiennes starring!) in the dress circle with Debbie, Caitlin, Faye, Lili and my sister and her boyfriend thanks to this. Tickets can go VERY fast - they go on sale on a Monday 5 weeks before the start of the production - but they're well worth trying to book if you get a chance!

Today Tix - I've only used this once, but was really happy to get a decent seat last week to see Adrian Lester in Red Velvet for just £20 instead of £55! I'd entered the lottery on the iPhone app, where you can win £15 front row tickets (you enter on the day, find out around 4 or 5 hours before the performance if you've won, and then have an hour to pay and claim your tickets) and lost out; however was offered a cheap ticket which worked perfectly for me.

Also, of course, going to the theatre in person can be rewarding with some great day seats available! I've  had front row tickets for Rock of Ages at the Garrick for £25, and a great stalls seat for Handbagged for £20, I think.

The TKTS booth in Leicester Square comes highly recommended by many, although it's ages since I've used it I seem to remember getting some good stuff.

Are you a theatre fan? Are there any sites or other places to get cheap tickets that you'd recommend? I'd love it if you left me a comment!