Dorfman Theatre Seating Plan
Three levels: the Pit at floor level, the Circle above it and the Gallery above that. The Circle and the Gallery are fixed, run round three sides and look down on the stage. The Pit is the part that moves.
Check the plan for your production
There's no standard seating plan for the Dorfman, and no fixed seat view to go with it. Before you choose a seat, pull up the plan attached to the date you're booking and work from that one.
The Pit seating rises to a steep rake, drops to a shallow one, or folds into the floor to leave it flat, and it is reset for almost every show. So a show can play end-on with the stage at one end, in traverse with two banks facing each other, in the round, or with the audience on their feet following the actors. Row D is not the same seat from one production to the next, and in some shows it doesn't exist.
Two things stay put. The Circle and the Gallery are built in, so they're where they always are whatever is happening below. And the price bands are ordered the same way every time, so the plan tells you which seats the theatre itself rates highest on your date.
There are no Boxes here.
Where we would sit, for an end-on show
Centre Pit, rows B to D, with row D the value: it sees very nearly what the premium rows behind it see for a band less. Higher up, Circle row P before row N. On the cheapest budget, the Gallery side blocks.
What we'd avoid is the far end of a Gallery side run, furthest from the stage, and row L at the sides of the Pit, which is a long way back for a top-band price.
The levels at a glance
- Pit, rows A to K facing the stage, with L and M wrapping behind and down both sides. Floor level, most of the audience, the closest seats
- Circle, rows N and P, across the back and down both sides. Level with the foyer, the easiest level to reach, and where the wheelchair spaces are
- Gallery, row R, across the back and down both sides again. The top level, the cheapest seats, nothing above it
Three things the plan won't tell you
The set spoils more views here than the building does. Nothing in this auditorium overhangs anything else, and the recurring problems are things built for one show: a set extending under the balcony, something hung below Gallery level, a kitchen at the far side that a handful of seats can't see into. Different seats every time, which is the whole argument for looking at the plan on the day.
The theatre often flags and discounts its difficult seats, but not always. When a seat loses part of the view it's usually marked restricted and sold cheaper, but some pillar seats in the Circle have gone at full price. If a seat is down the sides of the Circle, check before you book.
A few pillars stand at the edges. One at the end of the Pit's row L, which can cut the corner off the view from the row behind, and a few in the Circle's row P that clip the edge of the stage. Which seats they touch moves with the staging, and the plan doesn't always mark them.
Seating Plan FAQs
Where are the best seats in the Dorfman Theatre?
Rows B to D in the middle of the Pit for an end-on show, and row D of those if the money matters. Row P of the Circle if you would rather be looking down on the stage. Check on the plan for your date that those rows are there at all.
Is it better to sit in the Pit or the Circle at the Dorfman Theatre?
The Pit, if the show is end-on and you can get near the middle. You're close, you're level with the action and you keep the full width of the stage. The Circle buys you height, and row P is the better of its two rows, but the side seats at both upper levels lose a slice of the near side of the stage behind the wall. At the sides, a Pit seat in row L or M beats a Circle seat at the same price.
Is it better to sit on the left or right at the Dorfman Theatre?
Neither. The seating is symmetrical, so what matters is how far round you are, not which side. Describing it as you face the stage, the seats nearest the stage on both sides face forwards and are close in; the further along a side run you go, the more you're looking sideways and the more a person leaning forward gets in your way.
Are there restricted view seats at the Dorfman Theatre?
Yes, and they change with the show, because the set is built new each time. They're marked on the plan and sold cheaper when they are. The ones to be wary of even unmarked are the far ends of the Gallery side runs.