Jamie Theakston: Cutting our prices: the way to win over a young audience

Like all actors, I take a moment in every performance to look out into the stalls, and survey the audience. One thing invariably strikes me. The audiences are good but I always hope to see more who are aged under 30. Both the plays in which I have performed in the West End, Art last year and Somerset Maugham's Home and Beauty at the moment have comedy and pathos that a young audience would relish. It is not the work that deters them from coming. It is, I am sure, the price of tickets.

Theatre is in danger of pricing itself out of the market for young people, even young people who would love to go to the theatre. It's not just the front stalls that are too expensive. Sometimes, even a seat in the balcony can cost up to £20. I have knowledge as a performer and a theatregoer.

Most people associate me with television. But I actually began in the National Youth Theatre. Like all actors learning their trade, I couldn't get enough of the theatre. I and my friends spent as many evenings as we could at the theatre. But the cost could be crippling, and we didn't see as much as we would have liked.

Each night after the performance of Home and Beauty there is a group of young people at the stage door. I always chat with them and they often say they would like to see the show again or see other shows but they are worried about the cost. I can't really blame them. Theatre is expensive and a lot of the under-30s have got out of the habit of going.

I presented Top of the Pops on television and would chat with the audiences. They would talk about gigs they had seen; about movies but they rarely mentioned theatre. A visit to the theatre was never high on the agenda. I think that's terribly sad. The thrill of live theatre is every bit as exciting as a visit to the movies. That is also why I think the Lister Experiment of selling tickets at cinema prices for some performances is a great idea and a desperately-needed way of bringing the cinema audience into the theatre. I'm realistic enough to admit Somerset Maugham is probably not a name that means a lot to many people under the age of 30. But those who come, see he is such a great playwright and they want to see and read more. But we've got to get them to come. Cheaper tickets could be a highly effective way of giving them the theatre habit.

The acting profession really needs to support this.

Jamie Theakston is in 'Home And Beauty' at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London.