Londoncoliseum Reviews 21

This is a beautiful building but very impractical for Musicals.
It’s just too big and the sound is appalling.
Kinky Boots just does not work in this venue with very high ticket prices.

Absolute waste of money, I paid £90 each for two tickets, totalling £180 for my birthday and this was my view of the performance. The people in front of me were not by any means tall, nor am I abnormally short, this is just a result of poorly staggered and designed seating. I contacted ‘customer support’ the day after but was told that “The seats that you purchased are in the price band 'C'.” Therefore meaning I got what I paid for, and if I wanted to be able to see anything I should have paid a lot more money. Waste of time and money, the customer service is shocking. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

Awful! Toxic environment! Payroll is incredibly incompetent.

As a snap decision we booked two tickets to see Swan Lake at the London Coliseum. We had two seats in box A 1&2, with tickets stating,”Restricted View”. We have been to many London venues and found these restrictions acceptable. On entering, the ushers directed us to various areas to no avail. Finally an usher went off to enquire as to where the seats were. She kindly took us to our seats stating,”these boxes aren’t usually used”. Our viewing box contained an electrical unit on the wall, a gaffer taped patch on the carpet and a rodent box. Regrettably the view of the stage was just over a third, thereby making it difficult to see the ballerinas, swans and impossible to see the beautiful lake etc.
During the interval my wife went to find a toilet. She was met by an array of steps and corridors, luckily some ballerinas directed her as to which way to go. Then also a back stage hand came through the box and was surprised to se us there, another followed a few minutes later. After the show when we left we could not find the way out. We were guided out by some of the main dancers, which was a bonus!
We have written twice regarding our experience to the London Coliseum, they have not responded.
Good British Values ?

Spirited away was simply incredible. However the Coliseum seats were very uncomfortable, very close together and dirty. The prices at the bar were extortionate too but the door staff were lovely.

There were technical issues which not only delayed the start of the performance, but it was clear during the show that they hadn't resolved the issue, where the actors did a stellar job working around the issue, but it clearly affected the show, and made it seem a lot less magical.. considering I paid a substantial amount for Stall seats, I was really disappointed that London Coliseum didn't give any sort of compensation for this mishap - Where they informed me that "If the Performance has to be interrupted or abandoned, we will not refund or exchange tickets if more than half of the Performance has taken place".. this seems like a ludicrous policy to me!

I havent see show yet, but this review is just to say their customer service is excellent.

I stupidly deleted my ticket email whilst cleaning my inbox. In less then 13hrs (on a sunday) had a reply and they resent confirmation email with ticket which I'm so appreciative of.

Went to see spirited away today. Firstly the show was fantastic. The use of the stage and the set design is innovative and wonderful.

However, we were in Row K, third floor balcony, so right at the top and the back. My son had to stand up to see because people in front were having to lean forward too, to see the play.

I caught about half of it, most of the parts that happened on the higher, moving parts of the set, also having seen the film, its hard to say what i actually saw and what i remembered and imagined as i tried to fill in the blanks.

The seats were bloody uncomfortable!

Nowhere did i see that the show was in Japanese with English subtitles. Whilst again this wasn't such an issue for me having seen the film numerous times, i could guess at which point we were at, however my dyslexic husband struggled as he is a slow reader and felt he missed a good chunk of the action between having a limited view point and having to look up to read the subtitles.

With a show this active, using the entire stage, i think tickets for the upper levels should be reduced as you’re not getting your money’s worth also i would say they’re not standard-good seats.

Staff were great and no other complaints on that score. Just a shame we missed so much of it.

Would have given five stars if one member of staff had not taken it away. OK we struggled to see apart from my daughter and it was her 16th birthday surprise so I was pleased she enjoyed it. The performance was incredible. All staff were completely wonderful apart from one young lady who was quite rude to us because we got a little confused with the seating. I appreciate that yes we should remember where our seats are, it was our first time at any theatre and was excited, hot and tired after a long journey to see this wonderful event, however there was really no need for the comment and attitude. I am very experienced in customer service and it was uncalled for and upset my daughter and her friends. Apart from that I want to thank the member of staff with their quick response when my daughters friend left her mobile on the toilet. Lovely and kind and perhaps the young lady who was rude can take a leaf out of their book.

Recently visited to see Spirited Away having bought £63 seats in the middle of the Upper Circle. Seats were advertised as standard/good seats. Unfortunately due to a lot of the performance being at the very front of the theatre stage, it was basically a restricted view ticket as I couldn't see about 30-40% of the play. I'm 175cm tall so I'm not short. Theatre management should either label most of the Upper Circle as restricted view or sway the performing companies to only perform in visible areas of the stage. It was quite a shame to miss so much for such a price!

Very upset disappointed I was very excited to see spirted away but it was very hard to enjoy because the seats where very uncomfortable and I was up against a marble post and i had no odea it was in japanese the subtitles where to the side which is hard to watch the actors and also look away to see what they are saying I felt as if I was missing it.

The ballet was wonderful. One of the best performances of Giselle I've ever seen and I've been lucky enough to see many over the years. Sadly overall the evening at the Coliseum was marred by the lack of welcome from the foyer staff and the very expensive and non-nourishing food in the American Bar. The ambiance was good and the staff friendly and attentive but my goodness we were still very hungry afterwards. The final straw was the pudding in the interval which was literally 3 teaspoon sized bits of pear with some dry granola on top. The lukewarm tea didn't help. We had to go to the bar and buy chocolate bars - £100 later for two of us (without alcohol) was frankly ridiculous. The 'small' plates were 'minuscule' plates of food. I suggest this menu needs a rapid re-think.

Fabulous performances, helpful staff, discounted ticket prices for persons caring for a disabled visitor, what's not to like. We had a lovely time, the quality of the dancers was amazing, to put it mildly, and I'm entirely at a loss as to the negative reviews on this site - our own experience could not have been more different. Highly recommended - already looking forward to the next time.

Beautiful choreography and production. Wonderful equisite dancing and acting cast. Amazing famous classical scores. Gorgeous dazzling and colourful costumes. Good view considering lower end price seat. Great atmosphere. Absolutely fantastic way to start Christmas celebrations. Thank you.

Attended London Coliseum yesterday to see a performance of the Nutcracker. Found out when we turned up that performance was cancelled. The issue was rectified at some point shortly afterwards apparently. Surely whatever it was did not warrant the inconvenience caused to people like me who had travelled to see this performance spent money on food and drink etc. Whilst a refund has been given there was no offer of compensation for the inconvenience and why does it take 10 days to process the refund? Completely ruined our day. Will think twice before travelling to see a ballet again in London as found the whole thing was handled badly. The performance could have gone ahead whilst issue was resolved. Sort it out London Coliseum. Very disappointing.

I was treated horribly. I go to the theatre in London regularly. I travel from Doncaster and stay over a few days and go to Whipsnade and London Zoo over the course of my trip and see a few shows. I had spent the day at London Zoo, and had my camera with me. I have a £1,000 camera, and it was in my backpack, with no intention of being brought out in the theatre. I actually went to 2 shows the next day and they had no issues with me having a camera in my bag. They told me I couldn’t take my camera in, despite me stating it would not be taken out of my bag. They said I had to either not go in, or hand my camera over to them. There was nothing on the website when I booked about camera’s having to be handed in. In order to see the show I had to let them confiscate it but they would not give me a receipt! They said I had to take a photo however they held their hands up to my phone to prevent me taking a photo which could identify them, yet I was expected to hand over an expensive piece of kit with no proof. They could have compromised and taken the battery pack out of the camera for me to collect later, and left the camera in my care. I am diabetic and suffer high blood pressure. I have suffered from stress and anxiety over the last few months and recently had some time off sick due to this. I have a partial amputation of my foot and they made no effort to seat me while discussing this and during later complaints. I became I’ll over the course of the evening. I repeatedly had threats from the security officer who had been rude earlier on. Nobody bothered to check on me during the interval despite the fact that I had said I was feeling unwell. I made a further complaint at this point, and when escorted back to my seat I lost my balance due to a combination of issues with my diabetes and my foot and almost went headfirst down the stairs. I asked for the manager to bring my camera after the show and stated I did not want to see this security officer again because he had been so rude throughout the evening. The manager was dismissive, even when I showed her the state of my foot with the amputation. Eventually she asked if I wanted a paramedic as I’d said I was not well and I was concerned about getting back out of the city after the events of the evening. I said that I did and she brought out the security officer who was not a paramedic, he was a first aider and was not qualified to deal with my health issues. I had him leaning over me in a threatening manner and I said I wanted them to move him away from me and did not want him anywhere near me. I ended up having to call for an ambulance and check into A&E on my way from the theater as I was feeling extremely unwell, and I am still suffering from the effects of the experience several days later. I was not able to enjoy the show, and the treatment at the hands of staff at the Coliseum could have led to my death. When I told them they had a duty of care to their visitors they were dismissive. I have visited most theatres in London and I have never been treated so poorly. I have had bad experiences with this theatre before though. They were unhelpful last year when I had a booking which coincided with one of the train strikes. A few years ago I had a drink in my bag and they were difficult on the door with me about that. I told them I was diabetic and need to have some food and drink with me in case I have an issue with my blood sugars and they were still difficult and I had to get a manager on that occasion and show him my medical card at which point the security men on the doors had to let me by. I will never go to London Coliseum again. They treat guests badly and do not care about their well-being. I think they should be ashamed of themselves however they still have not written back to me over the complaint I made.

Charged me twice for the tickets!
The web site has a most horrible interface ever!

Saw My Fair Lady, arrived very early but security staff happy to let me in an sit in the foyer. Good show, great sight lines, excellent acoustics, all front of house staff really polite and friendly. The Coliseum has been redecorated and is really plush. Seat comfortable with plenty of leg room. I have booked for a couple of operas and are looking forward to them. I do wish the "secret seats" were still available.

Very helpful customer service team. Edna and Matt in particular went above and beyond to help with an issue I was experiencing with my tickets.

The Nutcracker 2019 ballet left us so disappointed! We attended on the second night and expected the atmosphere to be electric and fresh but it just wasn’t.
It has somehow lost its magic this year.

It was strange, messy choreography to watch. It had a smaller cast and the costumes had none of the ‘glow’.
There were only very pared down sets - what there was didn’t shine or scream out ‘Nutcracker’ as in previous performances, and because of this it didn’t give us the usual Christmas feel.
I was actually close to tears with the disappointment by the end and it wasn’t the start of my excited build up to Christmas which I have always looked forward to.
We had no emotional reaction to it at all, as in years gone by.
There is ABSOLUTELY no comparison to previous years shows, even more so after watching the 2016 performance back on TV.
Somehow the producers have cheapened it and taken the heart from it.
I feel very sad that all of these poor choices have cheated those poor ATHLETES/DANCERS who have dreamed of, sacrificed for and worked towards their moment in the spotlight for years and years.

Shame on whomever was in charge, and shame on the team making all the decisions because it’s just not what it was!

We go every year but If this is repeated in 2020 I will no longer go to the performance, and, instead rely upon my memories of the heyday of this precious, traditional ballet.
In many ways it has spoilt this time as an enthralled spectator forever.
I just hope others have taken the time to get their message across - don’t change something that has a perfect formula already in place!