TheAustralian

Bard news: Aussies slugged for Spacey play

Matthew Westwood, Arts editor

July 25, 2011

MY kingdom for a horse - or for a ticket tosee Academy Award-winner Kevin Spacey tread the boards in Richard III, topprice $239.

Shakespeare's tragedy, directed by Sam Mendes, opened in London lastmonth to rave reviews and is coming to Sydney for a short run in December.

Tickets go on sale today: seats in A Reserve at Sydney's Lyric Theatreare $179, or $239 in a package including a program and interval drinks.

By comparison, tickets at the Old Vic theatre in London cost pound stg.10-pound stg. 52.50 ($15-$79).

"There are 11 performances only in Australia, it's a company of 43people, it's an expensive undertaking," said local presenter Andrew Kay.

Mr Kay would not disclose the freight and travel costs of bringingRichard III to Australia. The exclusive Sydney season is supported by stategovernment body Events NSW.

Yet the question may be asked: are Australians paying too much for theirart and entertainment outings? Consumer advocacy group Choice last weekcompared the average price of cinema tickets: $12.98 in Australia, $US7.89($7.27) in the US, and pound stg. 5.95 ($8.94) in Britain.

And tickets to see touring rock bands are consistently higher here thanoverseas, largely due to the impost of high freight and travel costs.

"What really spikes the tickets here is that you are paying theacts higher guarantees than they get in America or Europe to cover 20 to 70international flights and anything up to 20,000kg in freight," saidveteran promoter Michael Chugg.

The cost of touring goes both ways: compare tickets for Sydney TheatreCompany's production of Uncle Vanya in Sydney (top price $90) with its seasonnext month in Washington DC ($US135).

Otherwise, a sample of international ticket prices suggests thatAustralia is on par with box offices in Britain and the US.

"We are pretty consistent with the international market," saidEvelyn Richardson, chief executive of industry group Live PerformanceAustralia.

"I don't think we are any different from the West End orBroadway."

Richard III will open at the same time as Graeme Murphy's Romeo andJuliet for the Australian Ballet (top Saturday night tickets at the SydneyOpera House, $190), and STC's production of Gross und Klein with Cate Blanchett(top price $130).

STC general manager Patrick McIntyre said the company noticed that someimported shows were charging more than STC's top ticket price.

"And yet, in terms of production values . . . our shows were justas, if not more, attractive," he said.

Task3: Outline the argument inthe article that explains why prices are so high.

Task4: Outline the real reasonfor such high prices.

文章的大概意思是说伦敦戏剧来澳洲表演，票价非常高，相比在伦敦本土演出票的价格，官方解释说是由于飞机运输增加了成本，导致票价高。用经济学原理解释为什么会这么高？真正高的原因是什么？