We almost always get our theatre tickets in advance when we go to London and I have always called the box office directly to get them (you can get the phone numbers at www.londontheatre.co.uk or www.playbill.com). I have never dealt with any of the ticket agencies. I always figure that the cost of the phone call is probably less than the agency mark up anyway. I also like that I can choose our seats when I call the box office and know right away that I got the tickets. They just hold the tickets for us to pick up the night of the performance. We've done this many times and it has always worked out really well for us.

Another possibility would be to buy the tickets online through playbill.com. I just looked at the website and noticed that almost all of the London listings now have a link to ticketmaster.co.uk. I'll probably give this a try next time now that I know about it.

Jamie Natick, MA