This site exists to celebrate the full spectrum of Off West
End theatres and to draw increasing numbers of the general public
into the heady darkness and dangerous passion of these little
powerhouses perched above a pub, tucked under a railway bridge,
packed into a disused warehouse, built around a butcher's shop
or suspended above a shopping centre.
Off West End theatres play a very important role in London
and in society as a whole - important on stage in taking risks
to push the boundaries of live performance, important for the
audience in entertaining the intellect and stretching the imagination
and, most of all, important as a breeding ground for new talent
and new ideas that feed into our culture, reinventing and reinvigorating
us.
Our goal was to create the first campaigning alliance encompassing
all Off West End theatres and ensuring their culturally diverse
performances are presented online in an equal, positive and
unbiased manner to people interested in seeing new work and
supporting new talent. The West End receives an enormous amount
of attention from the public and the press as well as support
from tourism bodies and third party ticket sellers. Off West
End theatres receive only a fraction of that support despite
the fact that the quality of performance can be every bit as
good as that in the West End. In creating this alliance we hope
to open the world of Off West End theatre to a much wider audience
of both local residents and tourists and, by leveraging the
power of a group, gain the same level of public and media attention
as the West End.
OffWestEnd.com puts as much information about its theatres and their performances as possible together in one easy-to-use place. As our hope is to allow all members to promote themselves and their plays equally, there are no costs to any of the theatres to appear on the website. They also do not pay any fees or commissions for ticket sales so the theatres are able to sell tickets directly to customers. What's more, customers have free use of the site, paying nothing for tickets or usage. We think that's a pretty good deal for everybody!
OffWestEnd.com was conceived by Kevin Nicholas of KN Consulting, a marketing consultancy specialising in the travel and leisure sector, and Sofie Mason of Theatre Partnerships
www.theatrepartnerships.com, an independent fund raising company for the arts. The site is owned by Kevin Nicholas and Sofie Mason.
Information on theatres and plays is provided by each theatre,
with a good deal of double checking from us. We aim to ensure
that our listings and information are always up to date and
accurate. However, if we do make a mistake, please let us know!
So, if you see an error, email:
feedback@offwestend.com
