If you like getting your culture fix on the cheap, Christmas has just come early: Melbourne Theatre Company is selling (actually "giving away" might be a more appropriate term) 1,000 seats to its upcoming production of Golden Shield. The play is by Thai-Australian playwright Anchuli Felicia King, who recently opened another show at the Royal Court Theatre in London. It's an epic legal thriller about China’s infamous firewall, and the play unfolds across multiple continents.
Tickets to the show would usually set you back somewhere between $88 and $103, but MTC is selling A-reserve and B-reserve tickets for $10 for performances between August 12 to 31. You can purchase two tickets per person, and they go on sale from 10am today (July 1) at mtc.com.au/10tix. They'll be on sale for 100 hours or until all 1,000 have been snapped up. And given they've never sold so many super-cheap tickets before, we've really got no idea how long they'll last.
So why this sudden act of generosity from our biggest theatre company? This year marks its tenth anniversary of the Southbank Theatre, the company's gorgeous home base. They'll also be opening up the theatre for free backstage tours on July 27 as part of Open House Melbourne.
Need an arts experience that won't break the bank? Check out our guide to scoring cheap theatre tickets.