Maybe it was the one and only William Shakespeare that started the London theatre craze. His plays were written for everyone- whether it was to entertain the royals or the street merchants that made minimal money. Everyone loved his plays and could relate to them- it was something that brought all of London together to the Globe Theatre.

In America, going to the theatre or to see a Broadway show is very “elitist.” Shows in NYC are way too expensive for me- I have yet to see a ticket for under $80 and even going with a huge group it costs a lot of money. So when I came here and saw that some of the best Broadway shows were gracing the stage in London, like Les Miserables and Wicked, I was excited but skeptical. With the conversion, I thought that it would be way too expensive to even think about seeing a show.

But, I found out by taking my Introduction to London Theatre class that the arts is heavily supported by the government here in London. It gets x amount of funding annually due to taxes, and the people here don’t mind paying taxes to fund the theatre because they can see an amazing show and be entertained. So, because of that, theatre in London is quite affordable.

I have always wanted to see Les Miserables in London, but ticket prices in NYC were steep and I couldn’t take too much money out of my pocket to see the show, even if I wanted to. But, I saw it was playing here in London and I knew there would possibly be student priced tickets I could take advantage of. When I went to the theatre, there weren’t any available, so I found a discount theatre ticket kiosk and decided to try my hand in that. The cashier informed us that no discount tickets were available for that night’s production, just the upper circle for 26.40 pounds, equivalent to about $42.50. For a Broadway show, getting a ticket at that price is almost unimaginable. I bought the ticket and enjoyed a most wonderful production of Les Mis.

I love that here, the arts is well-funded. The museums are all FREE here too. Every single one, of course, due to taxes. It’s unimaginable to us in America, having to pay $15 to check out the Museum of Modern Art in NYC for example. And paying buckets of money just to see a show on the stage. I’m paying 125 pounds to see 10 productions on the London stage, and every single one of them have been excellent shows. One in particular was called Vernon God Little, based on the novel by DBC Pierre. It takes place in Texas and is a dark comedy about a boy whose friend killed all his classmates and himself and everyone points to the boy, looking for a scapegoat. The play would never fly in America because although it’s a satire, it deals with almost every tough issue faced in America. This play was interesting for me because it gave me a glimpse of what the Brits think of Americans, for example, gun violence and media bias. I’m planning on reading the novelization to learn more.

The theatre in general is for everyone and anyone, not just for people saving up money to go out on the town one night in New York. I wish America would try and do something like that, but it will never happen in this time. But honestly, I wouldn’t mind my taxes funding the arts because I love to be entertained; then again who doesn’t?