Andrew Girvan

Exploring London Theatre Advertising at Christmas

My trips up and down the escalators to the Tube every morning changed slightly over the weekend with all the standard theatre posters being replaced with Christmas themed versions.

It’s the first time I’ve been in London for an extended period this close to Christmas but it does make perfect sense that West End producers are bumping up their advertising campaigns and planting the idea of a West End show Christmas treat in the minds of consumers. The number of high budget, highly advertised shows around London has also spiked in the run up to the festive period with Peter Pan transfering it’s tent from Kensington Gardens to the O2 arena. Panto is of course the other market factor to contend with as regional theatres just outside London, local to the train season ticket toting, high earning commuters who arrive in the city centre every morning.

By far the most comical of these cash cows currently being adverised on posters in the tube is Pamela Anderson’s panto debut in at the New Wimbledon Theatre. What can only be described as a star studded cast including the likes of Brian Blessed and Paul O’Grady bringing Aladdin to one of the biggest theatres in London. I’m not entirely sure that younger kids at the lower ages of the family panto audience will have any idea who she is but then its not them buying the tickets is it. How long will it be until Katie Price (Jordan) is seen on stage propping up the bottom line of a panto producer’s budget?

Talking of propping up bottom lines of producers’ budgets, I am sure that most people will have seen the news covered in The Stage last month that the Churchill dog is to appear in Qdos pantos across the country. Described by the insurance company as “an exciting partnership” the mind boggles when you think of other ways this type of arrangement could be exploited by producers. Luckily in most theatre we are constantly treading the thin line of making situations believable, engaging and artistically legitimate. I can’t see most productions managing to pull off product placement on such a vast and blatant scale. The other factor of concern has to be, as ticket prices continue to rise, that audiences expect to see their money on stage – not pay to see adverts.

Photo credit: Slimmer_Jimmer on Flickr