Dynamic pricing comes to the National Theatre, but for an interesting reason

The National Theatre has reportedly embraced the controversial practice of dynamic ticket pricing, but it does at least have a half-decent excuse for it.

If you tried to get a ticket for the recent Oasis reunion or another similarly massive tour, you may well be familiar with concept of dynamic pricing. This is where the cost of a ticket will change based on the popularity of an event — you might also see this referred to as surge pricing.

This is reportedly intended to offset the National Theatre’s policy of offering 25 per cent of tickets at £30 or less, as well as reduced standby tickets for students, the unemployed and theatre union members.

In reality what this means is going to seem pretty familiar if you have spent any time looking for tickets at the West End theatres. Weekend tickets for popular upcoming shows like War Horse are likely to be expensive, and pricing may change if you put off booking for a few days.

While this change wasn’t announced with great fanfare, it has not come out of nowhere.

In December 2025, the National Theatre announced its own research had concluded dynamic pricing could lead to reduced costs and an ability to reach “diverse audiences,” as The Stage reported.

The use of dynamic pricing methods, which will mean more expensive tickets for many folks, is more of en eyebrow-raiser for The National Theatre than some other places thanks to the way it is funded.

It’s a charity and receives public funding through the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. A £26.4 million, 2-year funding package was announced back in 2024 — although it also receives significant funding from other sources too.

The telling part here will be how high the National Theatre places its ticket price ceiling.

At present, the theatre’s War Horse productions this summer only have minor disparities in ticket cost between performances. Top-price tickets are £110 during the week, or £120 on Fridays and weekends. I’m yet to see evidence of more aggressive tactics on the National Theatre’s part.

This is far removed from the surge cost increases claimed to have taken place during, for example, the sale of the Oasis Live ’25 tour tickets, where those in the queue hoping for £75-odd tickets were only left with the option to pay £300 or more.

However, an investigation by Competition and Markets Authority completed in 2025 found no evidence Ticketmaster had actually used dynamic pricing in this case. It was, apparently, simply that the tickets were always going to cost that much and the cheaper ones had merely sold out.

We’ll be keeping an eye on how this one develops with interest.

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