Do the theatres in London have matinees? I'd rather travel to the West End during the day and have early nights to rest my feet after much walking about. Thought matinees might be the way to catch a show.
Also how do you book and is there need to book well in advance?
No idea what's on in May but would be satisfied with almost anything not too violent.
Thanks
moonrise

Yes - every show has matinees -- usually 2 a week -- Saturdays and another weekday.

No more need to pre-book matinees than evening performances. Both are available at TKTS at Leicester Square.

I generally prefer evening performances simply because matinees really eat into sightseeing time. And heck - you can rest your feet while sitting in the theatres in the evening

But definitely go to a matinee(s) -- especially if the weather is yucky.

Here are two sites to check for what's on

http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/london_shows/
http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/

And pick up a copy of Time Out your first day in London.

janisj nailed it...just to pick up a bit. 99.9% of the shows have a matinee on Saturday...usually starting around 1430 or perhaps 1500....then they choose another day during the week which, unlike NYC where almost all use Wednesday afternoon, they vary. Most use either Wednesday or Thursday. Phantom of the Opera has been using Tuesday afternoons....Mamma Mia uses Friday at 1700. Most of the matinees start as on Saturday at either 1430 or 1500 so they don't have to push back the evening performance (Mamma Mia on Friday evening is at 2030)....tickets for most are almost always available either at the theatre for full price or at tkts, as noted above so there is little need to book in advance. (Lion King, BTW, has a Sunday matinee performance and there rarely are Sunday evening performances if any).

One thing to bear in mind is that matinees are often when they give the understudies a run-out.

As usual, you have helped me so much!
You are experts at all this.
Much appreciated.
moonrise