Moscow introduces new rules for selling tickets to theaters. What you need to know
Moscow theaters will start selling tickets for performances using passports or other identification documents. The new rules are designed to prevent resale, which caused prices for the most popular performances to rise. For this reason, there were regular scandals with tickets for the ballet "The Nutcracker" at the Bolshoi Theater before New Year's Eve. How now to plan a trip to the performance in the capital - in the material "Izvestia".
New rules
- Department of Culture of Moscow has introduced new rules for ticket sales, which will affect its subordinate theaters and concert halls. From March 15, 2025 for the purchase of tickets to events with seats will be required to specify the details of the document, which will be able to confirm the identity of the visit.
- The changes will take place as part of a pilot project that will last until the end of 2025, so the list of documents that can be used to visit performances will be expanded. In addition to a passport it will be a driver's license, a Muscovite social card, a student ID, a pension card.
- If the ticket for the performance, which will be held after March 15, was bought before the introduction of the new rules, you will not have to specify additional data. Checking of documents will be handled by controllers, who also monitor the availability of tickets.
- Ticket sales by documents are introduced in 63 Moscow theaters and 36 concert halls. The new rules also affect rental events, which will be held at venues from the list of the Department of Culture of Moscow.
- The list does not include Moscow's federal theaters, which are supervised by the Russian Ministry of Culture. The Kremlin Palace will also not change the order of attendance - it is under the administration of the Presidential Affairs Department of the Russian Federation. Non-state theaters are not affected by the new rules either.
The number of federal theaters in Moscow includes the Bolshoi Theater, the Maly Theater, the Vakhtangov Theater, the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater, the Gorky Moscow Art Theater, the Satirikon, the GATKB, the Obraztsov Puppet Theater, the Theater of Nations, and the Theater of the Russian Federation. Obraztsov Puppet Theater, Theater of Nations, Sats Theater, Studio of Theatrical Art, Russian Academic Youth Theater, Moscow Gubernsky Theater, as well as four educational theaters of GITIS, Moscow Art Theater School, Shchukin Theater Institute and Shchepkin School. The list also includes the Russian Army Theater, which belongs to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Why they introduced the sale by documents
- Moscow authorities said that with the help of new rules they want to improve control over the sale of tickets and increase the safety of visitors to cultural events. This means fighting against resellers who buy up tickets for the most popular performances and then sell them at inflated prices.
- Such a problem was especially acute for the Bolshoi Theater and its New Year's performances of the ballet "The Nutcracker", which for the past few years has consistently caused increased demand among the audience. As a result of the actions of resellers, ticket prices have risen many times over and can reach hundreds of thousands of rubles.
- Back in 2020, the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg introduced the practice of selling personalized tickets to combat resellers. The Bolshoi Theater also began to issue them for individual productions, and from October 1, 2024 made name tickets mandatory for all performances. In some cases, a restriction on the sale of two tickets in the same hands is introduced.
- In addition to overcharging speculators, they could also deceive spectators by selling them fake tickets. Thus, in September 2024, a group of four people were convicted of defrauding theatergoers in this way. Two members of the gang were sentenced to terms from 4.5 to 7.5 years in prison, while two others were given suspended sentences.
- Despite the high prices and the possibility of fraud, viewers still turn to resellers, because to legally buy tickets for "The Nutcracker" you have to stand in a long line at the Bolshoi Theater box office. Last year, people occupied the queue the night before the opening, and those wishing to capitalize on the frenzy sold seats in it. Police had to protect people, as periodically there were conflicts with the victims.
What selling on paper will lead to
- Although it is assumed that only the person who bought the ticket can get to the performance, according to the law there is a possibility to reissue a registered ticket to another person. This can be done no later than 10 days before the event. When reissuing a concessionary ticket, the new holder must also have a concession. This is one of the ways that resellers continue to use, at the risk of not finding a customer before the required date.
- Although the sale of tickets by documents will reduce the likelihood that they will end up in the hands of speculators and get a markup, this measure may have negative consequences. Thus, you will not be able to buy a ticket right before the performance if you do not have any documents with you, and you will not be able to give a ticket to another person if you do not know their passport details. A document forgotten at home can become a reason for missing a performance.
- In addition, you should expect delays at the entrance to theaters and concert halls. In addition to checking tickets, controllers will also have to identify spectators, and this will take some time. Visitors will have to set aside more time to take their seats before the third bell rings.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
