neopolitan - that is what I meant. The primary definition of shill in the Websters unabridged is "a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others . . ." and so on.

Wow, my knowledge is way off. I always thought those guys who stood outside restaurants telling you to "come on in" and the guys who stand outside theatres trying to sell you seats were called shills. No? Shills are the ones who pretend to be customers?

no - you are right too. That is another def.

Just that the first one is the "customer" bit.

In my dictionary, shill is as Janis says. Tout is the person that Neopolitan describes.

fishee, last Fall I got a ticket for The Producers from TKTS when I showed up in the mid-afternoon. It was only discounted by a third, however, not 50%. Great seat about 10 rows from the stage. Wonderful show

janisj is correct, shill is a "fake" customer, kind of like what you might find at a local auction house (not Christie's etc) there could be a person in the audience bidding and driving up the price until it hits a certain amount then they drop out; they actually work for the house and are driving the bid to a predetermined price so the item does not sell too low.

Another name for a "tout" is a "hawker". Sometimes you see them in front of restaurants in a heavy tourist area like Times Square in NYC or rue de la Huchette in Paris. They are just trying to get people in to try the restaurant, they aren't putting on a fake "what a deal I got" act.

Thanks to all of you for the helpful responses.

The story about those 'shills' is appalling, though not surprising. I'm glad I've been forewarned, though.

Jody- thanks for the photo, and xyz- I think I will head there from Piccaddilly, just to simplify things. Thanks for the tip.

I'm going to go ahead and get yard tickets, since I won't be too disappointed if I leave early from 'Antony and Cleopatra.' Can anyone advise me as to whether I should buy in advance or the day of (even right before the show)?

Tout! Yes, that's the word I was thinking of when I said shill. Now that I think about it, a shill is a fake in a gambling scheme or con game as well -- hmmm, I guess that's not so different from what we were talking about.
OK, end of vocabulary study for today!

And curiousx, you bring up a good point. Recently TKTS has struck a compromise by offering tickets to shows that are not a full 50% off. They may have tickets to a couple of shows as you mention at 30% -- which will be clearly stated at the booth. In fact sometimes they offer a couple of shows at full price as a convenience as well.

When they offer a ticket at full price, they are most assuredly not doing you a favor as they still tack on teh £2.50 fee which you avoid by walking over to the theatre...

Some of the tickets they sell are indeed only 25% discounted and they are marked on the orange (or yellow for matinee) cards posted as to what is available (as well as an electronic sign which lists the prices you pay for each show)...

Two weeks ago I was in London and Tuesday evening got a 50% off ticket for Les Miz somewhat back in the stalls (orchestra as we say in America)...Wednesday I came by to pick up a ticket for something else and they had tickets for the matinee at 50% off but the tickets for Les Mis for the evening were listed as a 25% discount as were tickets for Phantom and tickets for the Producers....Thursday same thing (25% off for Les Miz, Phantom and Producers - Producers had a matinee with 50% off)...Friday I didn't pass by, Saturday 50% off for the matinee of Les Miz but no Les Miz at all for Saturday night.

Some shows are old staples and are always available for 50% off...every day and for every show I saw Whistle Down the Wind, Blood Brothers listed as available for 50% off....

Of course as noted you just never know 100% sure of just what will be available...you can guess what is probably available and can be 100% sure that shows like Mamma Mia (despite the fact it is not a particularly tough ticket during the week and the theatre is only 2 blocks from TKTS), Mary Poppins (availability has loosened up especially during the week but never at TKTS), Lion King (they have a Sunday matinee which is a tough ticket) and of course Billy Elliot (for the time being almost an automatic sell out every nights)..

Of course if you have access to a computer you can check out each day's offerings along with exact price including the service charges, before you go to TKTS.

Imelda, I think you could wing it on the Globe tickets and buy on the day. That way, you could wait to see if the weather's good enough.

"Jacobean" relates to the period of history directly after Elizabethan (ie James 1st), and is contemporary with Shakespeare's later life (and with the first ever staging of Antony & Cleopatra). So basically it's staged pretty
close to how the original would have appeared.

Thanks, Kate! I am now reassured that I won't be buying tickets for a show reminiscent of the Macbeth-in-tuxedoes fiasco I've heard so much about.