For London citizens, the theater is far more than a place for literary youths to unwind.
It serves as a salon for high society to exchange glances, comment on new plays, and form influential connections, a classroom for middle-class families to cultivate "art appreciation skills," and also a place where the working class, after a day of labor, can shed their aprons, don coarse woolen coats, and laugh heartily in the back seats.
In those upscale theaters at Covent Garden and Drury Lane, box seat prices often range from six to nine shillings, and might even require booking days in advance through a butler. Yet in more down-to-earth venues, like small theaters in Soho District or cantinas at taverns on Strand Street, a shilling is enough to sit on wooden benches and listen to a whole night of street jokes or adapted versions of Shakespeare.
Of course, if you're unwilling to pay even a shilling, you might consider the cheapest penny tickets.
