Young Vic Theatre, London

Gritty, raw theatre let down by unfair, shoddy customer service. Watched: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo Paid just under £120 for two higher end seats (row F) for this much anticipated show but was forced to miss the beginning of the show. Not sure I’d ever go back after such poor and unfair customer service. We arrived maybe 2-3mins late and saw people let into the theatre space just in front of us, but we were specifically blocked from entry and made to wait outside. The young usher was helpful and tried to let us in checking with her Manager because the show hadn’t started, but the Duty Manager kept saying no. Our seats were right next to the entrance door so it would’ve been quick and easy to let us sit down. When I asked to politely speak with the Manager she came out and gave me a bunch of excuses that made no sense as to why we couldn’t have just quickly sat down inside. I knew the play hadn’t started, she knew the play hadn’t started, our seats were next to the entrance door and yet she was arguing with me loudly and kept us waiting outside for 20mins. Her excuses ranged from “the play has already started” (when it hadn’t) to “it would disturb people with the door opening” to “it’s not fair on others in the row if you walk past them”. As it turned out it was all a bunch of lies. She kept saying 'after 12mins we will let you in' but we were kept waiting outside for 20mins. We were led upstairs to the gallery area to sit as ‘late comers’ which highlighted a number of lies the Manager had told us: 1. Whilst we were waiting the Manager decides to announce “don’t worry the show started 10mins late today so you won’t have missed much”. After all that arguing she contradicted her own excuses as to why she didn’t let us in. Why not just let customers in rather than excluding them when the show hasn’t even started? 2. The upstairs gallery was empty, so again, why did we wait outside for 20mins? It wouldn’t have ‘disturbed’ anyone if we were led upstairs and sat there immediately meaning as paying customers we wouldn’t have missed the start of the performance! 3. At the interval we were then told we could “stay upstairs if we wanted”, which we did, but then the Duty Manager with her chaos said that everyone has to clear out. Totally contradicting her colleagues. 4. When we got to our booked seats someone else was sat in them and when we asked them to move (ushers not present at all) the entire row was actually empty - so we wouldn’t have disturbed anyone if we had just sat in our seats at the beginning. 5. The actors keep walking into the play from the aisles so the doors are constantly opening and ‘disturbing the audience’ anyway! Would’ve made no difference if we had entered 30 seconds after the last customer even if the show had started. There were other lies which I can’t be bothered to list. I think the Duty Manager was just being spiteful. Some sort of power trip. Left me wondering was it our appearance she didn’t like? Who knows. This was my first experience of going to the Young Vic and honestly it was handled in such a poor manner by the Management. I’m disappointed the customer service is non existent! I felt EXCLUDED with no genuine reason why they made us miss the entire start of the performance other than their own sheer INCOMPETENCE or SPITE. The play itself is worth watching, it’s gritty, it’s raw theatre and is a much needed topic in our theatre spaces…the actors are superb and the dark humour is sharp and stings, they move about the stage effortlessly so every seat is a good seat and the lighting and stage set up adds perfectly to the drama of horror and war. I immediately felt transported to war torn Iraq with all the ghosts of conflict and trauma that night. But with such bad customer service I would be wary of returning to the Young Vic as I don’t know if we would be treated fairly??

Jan26- first timer. Gosh it's not 15mins walk from Blackfriars per Google- more like 25! It's a lovely vibe and not too busy at bar. The proximity to stage means a good view unless too far round one side. Did feel a draft from a door, as did others sat in row C21, 20, 19 etc. Sound immense and lighting good. Saw A Bengal Tiger at the Beirut Zoo: fascinating! Excellent production and acting amazing especially son of Saddam, the tiger and the gardner. Wow

Love Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo at the Young Vic Very atmospheric, powerful & mesmerising performances in an intimate setting.

Appreciated getting tickets to see The little foxes a few months ago through the neighbourhood theatre scheme. As a theatre venue, it's good there is a quiet room to decompress for a bit. Also, accommodating of accessibility needs, including a lift and accessible toilet. However, my experience was not good, and I went to a relaxed performance being my first time. The audience member sitting in front of me complained of my movements of eating and drinking, despite people near me doing the exact same thing and coughing, etc, no one bothered them. 3 times this person and I believe partner, turned around to complain couldn't hear performance. I then replied with, it's a relaxed performance and was left alone after. I did want to leave the theatre but stuck through it and used the quiet room after. I felt singled out with my friend and was upset about this situation that I felt I couldn't fully enjoy the performance, especially being neurodivergent. We need places that are accommodating and understanding for all disabilities and people to understand what a relaxed performance means. I've been to many theatre shows, eating and drinking during and after an interval like many people do, and I've never had an issue before. I do appreciate having email responses from the theatre and they are informing colleagues in various departments on how they can further improve the communication to audience members to ensure everybody knows that not only is the performance relaxed, but what it actually means to be relaxed. I would come back again if I get offered another ticket through the scheme. I wouldn't be willing to see a performance and pay because of the experience I had caused me immense anxiety.