QR codes for theatres

A programme QR code gives every visitor cast bios, and the same code serves a large-print programme: an accessibility win print cannot match. Add interval pre-ordering, which has hard maths: a 20-minute interval and one bar. Keep scanning in the foyer, not the auditorium.

The digital programme

Printed programmes cost money to produce and are bought by a fraction of the house; the rest watch the cast wondering where they have seen the lead before. A code on the ticket, the cast board and the free cast sheet, linking a digital programme (bios, production notes, creative team) serves every seat for the cost of one page template.

The quiet win is accessibility: the same code serves a large-print programme, a screen-reader-friendly version and translations, because the visitor's own phone applies their text size. That is a genuine accessible-design advantage no printed programme matches. Keep selling the printed one. It is a souvenir, and some patrons will always prefer it.

Interval pre-ordering has a clock

The maths is unforgiving: a 20-minute interval, one bar, and several hundred people who all decided on a drink at the same moment. A pre-order code on the cast sheet and foyer signage (order before curtain, collect from the shelf at interval) moves the queue to before the show. The menu-style page must be one screen, card saved, three taps; anyone still filling a form at curtain abandons the order.

The subscription moment

The best moment to sell next season is the walk out of a show the audience loved. Codes on the exit doors and in the programme linking the season announcement, with a calendar code for priority-booking day: catch goodwill that has evaporated by the next morning's email.

Etiquette: the foyer, not the stalls

A theatre asks phones to disappear at curtain. Respect your own request: codes belong on tickets, cast sheets, foyer boards and bars, places used before, at interval and after. Nothing in the auditorium should invite a lit screen during a performance, and pre-show announcements should not send an audience scanning in the dark; that is scanning in the worst light in the building anyway.

FAQ

What should a theatre programme QR code link to?

A digital programme for the current production: cast and creative bios, notes, running time and interval details. The same link should offer a large-print version: the visitor's phone handles text size, which is the accessibility advantage over print.

How does interval pre-ordering by QR code work?

Patrons scan in the foyer before curtain, order and pay on one short page, and collect from a named shelf at interval. It works because ordering moves outside the 20-minute window; the page must be fast enough to finish before the bells.

Where should QR codes not go in a theatre?

Anywhere that invites a phone during the performance. Keep codes to tickets, cast sheets, foyer signage and the bar. The auditorium is the one room where the venue has asked screens to stay dark, codes there work against the house rules.