New Theatre Reviews Summary

Building & Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Cardiff's nicest theatre, always an exciting programme of top plays, musicals, ballet and the Christmas pantomime is always good."
• "Victorian theatre in Cardiff city centre."
• "Lovley old theatre. Friendly staff."
• "Nice theatre with a period charm."
• "The Theatre is beautiful although not enough leg room."
• "Love this old theatre. Great for watching plays and musicals."
• "Beautiful old building with lots of character."

Cons:

• "It's such a tired old building, nothing seems to have changed in it since the 60's!"
• "The whole building needs refurbishment, the seats are threadbare, and other parts of the building need updating as well."
• "The New Theatre distinctly feels like it has been left in the Lost century."
• "Venue is old, outdated and has terrible facilities."
• "The actual theatre could really do with a bigger lobby or something similar as got crowded very quickly."
• "The place is showing its age but in the best possible way, as its size and decor are of a bygone era."
• "A gorgeous little theatre which is over a century old in the very heart of Cardiff."

Staff & Service

Pros:

• "The staff were very friendly and most helpful."
• "Staff are very friendly and helpful."
• "Excellent staff with very good customer service training."
• "The staff were very welcoming and the theatre was very clean and tidy."
• "Theatre staff were very helpful & efficient. It's great to have a cloakroom at the theatre."
• "Very nice, polite and helpful staff."
• "Staff friendly and experienced."

Cons:

• "Taken my money (almost £200) despite show getting cancelled before payment went through."
• "No member of staff knew where my stroller was."
• "However the theatre Stewart sent us to the wrong floor."
• "Spoiled by awful security guard who made us feel as though we had crawled out from under a stone."
• "Where are the front of house staff and ushers, I thought they police shows like this for disruption & using phones during performance?"
• "Unfortunately the staff at the New Theatre were rather disorganised."
• "Staff did not have a clue how to use the payment terminals at the bars so there were really long queues."

Seating & Comfort

Pros:

• "Tiny seats with not much legroom but brilliant view of the stage."
• "Ticket prices are great, box prices are very reasonable."
• "Nice theatre, nice staff and very comfortable seats with plenty of legroom."
• "The upper circle seats offer a very good view of the stage."
• "Seats comfortable & unobstructed view in the stalls."
• "The New Theatre has comfortable seats in the Gods and in the stalls."
• "Lovely Edwardian theatre with comfortable well spaced seats."

Cons:

• "But the place is very cramped, getting to the bar and the other sales area in the foyer was a nightmare with the bustling."
• "Unfortunately, I found the seats to be cramped and uncomfortable."
• "Seats are worn out and very cramped."
• "If you thought plane seats were uncomfortable you haven't been to the new theatre! You have to have retractable knees and legs that can make 90 degree turns in more than the usual places. Dated and expensive."
• "The seats are quite narrow and there's not a lot of leg room."
• "Seating a bit uncomfortable and very low with not much leg room for people to pass, or stretch your legs."
• "Regular seating does not provide much leg room and can feel somewhat cramped."

Facilities & Cleanliness

Pros:

• "Good venue close to the city centre & a short walk from Cardiff central train station."
• "Nice and central for public transport."
• "Great facilities!"
• "The facilities are great and the seating is comfortable."
• "The building is classic but very well maintained."
• "First time at the New Theatre Cardiff. Friendly, welcoming staff, spotlessly clean and more than reasonable bar prices."
• "There is disabled access throughout the building."

Cons:

• "Needs to sort out Aircon, or fans. It was absolutely boiling at Frankie Boyle last night."
• "Cleanliness. Well the majority of the place was good however the toilets looked like they hadn't seen a cleaner in weeks."
• "Toilets are very small and lack of space for the elderly."
• "Queues for ladies toilets that was downstairs and down corridor went back up the stairs into the foyer."
• "What greatly lets the theatre down is the state of the floor and carpets. They were absolutely filthy in the theatre itself."
• "Were seated in Upper circle, which meant 2 flights of stairs down to use the disabled/baby changing toilet."
• "Massive queues for the ladies toilet meant some missed the start of the 2nd part."

Price & Value

Pros:

• "The service was very fast for bar snacks."
• "The tickets and snacks are reasonably priced."
• "Drinks in the bar are reasonably priced."
• "The refreshment prices are quite reasonable for a theatre also."
• "The bar had a good range of refreshments and reasonably priced (for a theatre)."
• "It’s a really nice place to be able to see the theatre etc without having to pay a lot for a ticket."
• "Good views from stalls, circle and gods."

Cons:

• "The drinks and food chocolates ice creams etc were expensive."
• "Prices for refreshments absolutely extortionate. Charged £8.40 for two small bottles of pepsi."
• "3 hrs and 15 minutes and we was charged £19 what a disgrace shame on you."
• "Very over priced soft drinks and sweets £6 for a bottle of pepsi and a bag of munchies."
• "A bit pricey for sweets and alcohol."
• "Reasonable priced drinks, sweets very overpriced!"
• "Prices at the bar relatively high - 500ml a bottle of soft drink was over £3."

Performances & Shows

Pros:

• "The show was good, although disappointing Helen George was not main attraction that day."
• "The performance I went to see was amazing."
• "Saw The Mirror Crack'd. An excellent production."
• "Went to see Buddy Holly, thoroughly enjoyed the show."
• "An absolutely amazing performance of 'The King & I'! ALL the cast worked extremely hard."
• "We watched Mamma Mia, it was amazing."
• "Amazing performance - loved every minute!"

Cons:

• "The Pepa Pig show it wasn't that great. Its our 3rd time since I had my little once and this place feels always dirty and sticky to me."
• "Don't think there was a story to the show, just lots of singing & the circus acts were okay."
• "The mirror cracked as a fan of Agatha Christie I was very disappointed the accents wavered in and out of American and English the story was very disjointed and the part of Miss Marple was hardly needed."
• "We didn't enjoy the Dusty Springfield show..very confusing story line some nice voices ....but no one depicted or represented Dusty as a singer."
• "The show we saw was dreadful. The theatre lobby was cramped and very hot...the queues were not handled well."
• "The second half, god knows what was happening lots of instrumental and the singer having lots of overlap singing."
• "Sadly I have to post a most horrendous experience at a show on 17th April Island in the Stream."