Trafalgar Theatre Seating Plan
Tap image to zoom.
Two levels and nothing else. The Stalls runs rows A to Q, the Dress Circle runs rows A to M, neither has a row I, and there is no gallery above. Four Boxes sit at the sides.
Stalls or Dress Circle?
There are only two levels here and the top of each costs the same £144, so it is a straight choice.
Take the Stalls if you want to be close. In a 630-seat theatre that means close, and it is the level we send most people to.
Take the Dress Circle if you are on the shorter side. This is the one that decides it for a lot of people: the Stalls seats are not offset, so you are looking at the back of the head in front of you rather than between two heads. The rake in the Stalls is gentle and cannot be relied on to fix that. The Dress Circle is the opposite, steeply raked with three steps between every row, and the view from a seat up there is clear of the people in front whoever they are.
Take the Dress Circle if you want the whole stage in one frame.
Two prices are worth knowing before you choose, because they change the answer rather than just the cost. Stalls row A is the best value on the plan, at half what the middle of the same level costs, and it sells out first: on the Saturday we priced it had gone entirely while dearer seats further back were still there. And the cheapest seats in the building are at the back of the Dress Circle, which is a better buy than the back of the Stalls at similar money, because the last two Stalls rows lose the top of the stage and the Dress Circle rake means nobody is in your way.
The view from your seat, and what the plan will not tell you
Most seats here have a clear view of the stage. There are two exceptions, and neither is marked on the booking plan.
- Book somewhere else if the set is tall. From Stalls P and Q, and from the outer four seats in row O, the front edge of the Dress Circle cuts the top off the picture. Nothing is flown in the current production and nothing sits above head height, so today it costs you almost nothing. On a big set we would move you upstairs.
- From Stalls row E backwards, the walls close in towards the stage, so an end seat in row F or behind has a wall beside it. For most productions that costs you nothing. Where a staging works the far corners hard, book two seats along from the aisle rather than on it.
Left and right
Described as you face the stage, which is how you will see it when you walk in. There is nothing to choose between the two sides here: the Stalls is a single block curving gently towards the centre, and the Dress Circle is a single block with aisles at either end and no central aisle at all. What matters is how far out you are, not which side.
The one row where it changes is Dress Circle A, which runs 28 seats wide and is the longest row in the building. The far ends of it get a noticeably angled view and can lose the extreme edges of the stage.
The levels at a glance
- Stalls, rows A to Q. The larger level, close, gently raked, and the one we recommend. The lift comes down to it
- Dress Circle, rows A to M. Steep, clear over the heads in front, nothing above it, and stairs only
- Boxes, four of them at the sides. Not on sale for the current production, and not the buy even when they are
FAQs
Where are the best seats at the Trafalgar Theatre?
Two of them, at the same price. Downstairs, the middle of Stalls E to H. Upstairs, the middle of Dress Circle B and C. Book the first to sit close to it and the second to see all of it at once.
Is it better to sit in the Stalls or the Dress Circle?
The Stalls, for most people, because this is a small theatre and the front half of it is very close. Go to the Dress Circle if you are shorter: the Stalls seats are not offset, so you look at the back of a head, and the Dress Circle is steeply raked instead.
What is the best view from the seats at the Trafalgar Theatre?
The centre of the Dress Circle, rows B and C, if you mean seeing everything at once. The rake is steep, nothing hangs over the level, and the whole stage sits in one frame. The centre of the Stalls trades that width for being a few feet from the actors.
Is it better to sit on the left or the right?
Neither. Facing the stage, the two sides are the same at this theatre, and both levels are a single block. How far out along the row you sit matters much more, particularly at the ends of Dress Circle row A, which is 28 seats wide and gets angled at the extremes.