Record Year For London’s West End

2009 breaks box office records for takings and attendance

The Society of London Theatre (Solt) has reported that 2009 was a record year for both box office takings and attendance.

The number of visitors to London’s West End theatres in 2009 passed the 14 million mark for the first time, hitting 14,257,922 — up 5.5% — and box office revenues surpassed the half billion barrier for the first time with a revenue of £504,765,690 — up 7.6%.

Plays, as opposed to musicals had a bit of a resurgence with an audience of 3.6 million, up 26% on 2008.

The Donmar Warehouse’s season at the Wyndham’s theatre played to an average 96% capacity, with more than 10% of the audience first-time bookers.

Waiting for Godot, with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, was a run-away hit and saw people queuing for returns. It has now returned to the West End with Roger Rees replacing Patrick Stewart who had other commitments.

Nica Burns, president of Solt, said she believed the success in 2009 — which was expected to see a drop in sales –  was down to the excellence of what was on stage. “I was predicting a 10% drop but 2009 turned out to be a really extraordinary year in terms of quality and the breadth of what was on offer.”

Another factor could have been the number of big stars on stage. Judy Dench and Jude Law starred in Donmar’s Madame de Sade and Hamlet respectively. James McAvoy, Anna Friel, Rachel Weisz and Keira Knightley also appeared in the West End.

The number of flops was also lower than normal. Even the shows that did close early didn’t necessarily do so because they were bad. Spring Awakening, which closed five months early was named best musical of the year at the Critics’ Circle theatre awards on Monday.