Listening to venues across our network we know many of you are struggling to attract audiences for contemporary theatre at the moment. Some of this is a hangover from Covid and once regular visitors not returning, and some undoubtedly the result of the current cost of living crisis but we know that when people do come out, they have a good time and they feel better.

We wanted to help - and so we've created the Take Your Seats campaign for our shows this Autumn. At its heart it's 'a two for one' on tickets for each of the 4 house shows that you can pass on to your audiences.

Aimed at lapsed attenders, the offer will be supported by a regional marketing campaign run by Mobius, to raise awareness of local venues and encourage people to give something a go on their doorstep. You will also be provided with resources to promote the initiative in your community.

You don't have to book one or more of the shows from our Autumn season to take part in the scheme, and we know many of you are already doing great work to support access to your venues.

Perhaps some of you are taking part in UK Theatre’s Love Your Local Theatre campaign next month but hopefully this campaign later in the year should complement it plus will also give some of our smaller venues in the network the chance to join in with our regionwide campaign.

If this feels like the kickstart your theatre programme needs then get in touch to find out more details and learn about the 4 productions currently open for booking.

How will it work?

We will subsidise the percentage income from the additional free seat; how this works and what you need to do is explained on the accompanying guide below.

How do I find out more about the house shows available to book for this Autumn?

Details about the house autumn season offer have been shared to programmers throughout the network alongside details of the Take Your Seats project. If you are a programmer and have not received details, please email mark@housetheatre.org.uk to receive the house autumn 2023 season programme details.

I would like to know more about Take Your Seats and the marketing support campaign around the project

We will be discussing the Take Your Seats project at the house Regional venue meet-ups this April and May so if you want to learn more, please make sure you sign up to join us. We will then arrange an online kick-off call with our PR partners, Mobius, in later May to talk about the comms campaign which will surround the project offering greater support from national arts & local media partners as well as learning about how your organisation can feed into the project marketing.

This online kick-off meeting will take place on Wed 17 May, 3pm - register for the meeting