Where to sit at Hamilton, London – Victoria Palace Theatre

Culture, lifestyle, theatre by Theatress

I strolled around the theatre so you don’t have to. Here are some images from around the theatre so you can get an idea of what your view might look like! Apologies in advance for the substandard phone pics!

Royal Circle – Row J Seat 35. This is where I sat and it was a great view. Could see the entire stage, didn’t feel too distant, great rake so the tall guy infront of me didn’t obstruct my view. No complaints.

Where to sit Hamilton London - Theatress 6

Royal Circle – Row A. Amazing view, probably the best in the theatre but it comes with a hefty price tag.

Where to sit Hamilton London - Theatress 2

Royal Circle – Rear. Very much a letter box view and felt a little distant, but still a full view of the stage. May miss the top of heads at times. There are 2 boxes right at the back of the royal circle and I think you’d miss waist up when people are on the balcony from those.

Where to sit Hamilton London - Theatress 4

Royal Circle – Slips (Left). Side View of the stage, the whole of the left side of the balcony is blocked but other than that a pretty good view if leaning forward. I believe these are £60 seats whilst thats a bit expensive for quite an obstructed view, at Hamilton prices these are a pretty good deal. There are 4 seats here and I was at the seat furthest from the stage, the view will become increasingly restricted as you move closer to the stage.

Where to sit Hamilton London - Theatress

Stalls – Central. Great view. I was standing when I took this photo so you would obviously see less of the stage floor when seated. You may be unlucky if a taller audience member takes the seat infront of you as the rake isn’t the best I’ve seen. Would love to see the show from here.

Where to sit Hamilton London - Theatress 3

Stalls – Rear. I am so sorry for the terrible quality of this photo!! Quite distant but a good view – if there are no heads in the way that is. Obviously the overhang from the royal circle would obstruct the view of the top of the stage but not enough to block any action. The rake in the stalls here is not the best i’ve seen so personally I wouldn’t risk sitting here. They’re expensive seats and theres a good chance there’ll be heads blocking your view.

Where to sit Hamilton London - Theatress 9

Stall – Central Front Row A25. The stage is high and the view is restricted. You miss feet and lower legs but you don’t notice to be honest. It is difficult to take the entire stage in at once and fully appreciate the choreography but the chance to see so much detail and interact with the cast is excellent. Definitely worth the £37.50 I paid but the new £75 price tag is extortionate for such a restricted view (front row seats on the West-End are normally £20-30!!). Grab yourself a booster seat from the foyer if you sit here!

Hamilton London - Where to sit Victoria Palace - Theatress

Grand Circle – Rear. Very very high and this circle is incredibly steep – not good for vertigo sufferers. Still, you have a complete view of the stage and I doubt anyone would be tall enough to block your view with the rake up here. A bit of a birds eye view. Feels distant and you would miss the small details/facial expressions and the top half of people stood on the rear platform onstage.

Where to sit Hamilton London - Theatress 8

Grand Circle – Front. A really great view from here. Feels a little bit distant but you don’t miss anything and can still make out facials. I sat in one of the ‘restricted view’ aisle seats and the view was great, the restriction is due to the hand rail next to you and was very minimal. SO sorry for the awful photo but you get the idea – This is Grand Circle C19.

IMG_7196

Grand Circle – Slips. The cheapest seats in the house!! Although uncomfortable I actually really enjoyed the show from here. It feels a lot closer than the grand circle does and although you miss the side of the stage closest to you, you still have a great view of the action. You’ll need to lean forward a lot and lean on the cushion in front of you. I actually knelt for most of the performance. If its your first time seeing the show, maybe opt for a seat where you can see the entire stage but otherwise these are a great option! You only miss around 20% of the stage on the side closest to you and only 5% of the action. 1 photo shows the view leaning back on the bench, the 2nd is the view when leaning forward.

Upper Circle. The main problem with the entire upper circle is the leg room which is just awful, there are no two ways about it! I’m a mere 5ft 4in and I was uncomfortable so I dread to think what its like for anyone taller.

IMG_7194

Royal Circle Boxes – This was as close as I could get to a photo from a box – you can see the boxes at the edge of the image and they are slightly more to the side. The pro is that you are close to the action, the con is obviously the majorly restricted side view. At a guess, I’d say you’d probably miss about 30-40% of the stage depending which box you’re in. Grand Circle boxes will be more of a birdseye side view.

Where to sit Hamilton London - Theatress 7

So there you have it – I did the best I could without being too creepy and climbing over people to get photos!!! For an old theatre, the Victoria Palace is actually brilliant in that it has very few restricted view seats! The renovation is absolutely beautiful and the seats are nice and new! Legroom is a big problem throughout the theatre but gets exponentially worse the higher you go (although the last row of the grand circle randomly has more leg room than the rest).

Unfortunately, with Hamilton being ridiculously popular and overpriced currently we don’t have much choice when it comes to seats but hopefully this will be helpful to someone!!

Leave a comment down below or join me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!!

More WHERE TO SIT reports here!

Discover more on THEATRESS

Theatre | Travel | Culture

Much love,

Charlotte

41 Comments

  6. Karen
    Reply

    Hi Charlotte, in a nutshell, I booked the wrong date and now have a choice between the following: I have a choice of Stalls T 14-18 or Grand Circle Row C central.. Myself, husband and 3 children (youngest is 10) are going over from Northern Ireland and never been to this theatre before so I’ve no clue! All help really appreciated!

    Like

  7. Siobhan
    Reply

    Hi this is a really helpful article, thank you. Do you think L8-12 or q31 – 35 would be better? 18th birthday present for my son and we are travelling from Ireland so want to get this right 🙂

    Like

  8. B K
    Reply

    Hi there, I am looking for the best combination of leg room (partner has a very bad knee and isn’t able to bend it for hours on end), price and view. Could you kindly make any suggestions? I recently attended the show and sat in the front row of the royal circle, I loved the view but couldn’t make him sit there as even I (5ft 3) struggled with the lack of leg room.

    Like

  11. Nicole
    Reply

    Hi there, may I know is Stall J12 considered far from the stage and might be blocked by overhang from the Royal Circle? I need three tickets for Hamilton during our visit in December 27th till 7th of January and I need your advice to help me choose the best and affordable ticket to this musical. Thanks in advance.

    Like

    1. Theatress
      Reply

      Hi Nicole,

      Sorry for the slow reply. J12 would be a brilliant place to see the show from. You wouldn’t have any of the royal circle overhang in view from here and would have a good view of the whole stage. It might be an ever so slight side view but I doubt it would affect your enjoyment of the show!

      Like

  12. Kristen
    Reply

    Thanks so much from this American who is dropping a bundle to go and wants to make it count! Really appreciated these pics and the specific seat numbers for where you sat so I could make my choice from what was available. My personal preference is usually front-ish of the first balcony level but you never know just how high that might be in a particular theatre! Very very helpful for this control-freak. =)

    Like

  14. J
    Reply

    Thank you so much for this post! I am a Canadian visiting London for the first time and this was very helpful. I nearly bought tickets in the stalls for more money and a worse view. Instead, I managed to get the seats directly behind yours (Royal Circle, Row K, 35 and 34, £75 each). Very much looking forward to the wonderful view.

    Liked by 1 person

      3. uknepatsfan

        Thanks for your reply.

        I made a mistake, it’s actually Royal Circle seats J4-J7 so hopefully slightly better view. It’s mainly for my wife and 14 year old daughter as they are big Hamilton fans.

        Like

  15. gaylefent
    Reply

    Hi – (i’m so sorry if this has posted twice) but you mention that the upper circle has awful leg room (my bf is 6ft2 so I am worried about the legroom situation). On the website layout of the Theatre I can not see Upper Circle, only Royal Circle and Grand Circle – is the Upper Circle the same as the Grand Circle.

    Thank you!

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Gayle Fentiman
    Reply

    Hi – thanks for such a helpful post. I am looking at the map of the theatre and can see Stalls, Royal Circle and Grand Circle. You mentioned in your post that leg room in the ‘upper circle’ was really restricted and I was wondering if the upper circle and the grand circle are one of the same? my Boyf is 6feet2 so I am worried about the lack of leg room! Thank you!

    Like

    1. Theatress
      Reply

      It’s difficult to say, slips would make you much closer to the action but give you a side view whereas the Victoria/Albert boxes are nice and central but quite distant. The side view would slightly obstruct action from slips but overhand would slightly obstruct action when the actors are on the raised part of the stage! So very similar just depends if you prefer a closer view or a central view!

      Like

  21. Whitney Wingerd (@WhitneyMWS)
    Reply

    Hi Charlotte – this is so helpful! Do you have any idea about the Box stalls? I just bought tickets today for June – 4th row and I’m wondering if it’s too close. There are 4 of us and still box stall seats available so I’m wondering if that would be better. I’m coming with a tall husband and two tall teenagers so thinking we could use more room.

    Like

    1. Theatress
      Reply

      Hi Whitney ! In terms of views, you’ll have a better view from stalls row D than the stalls boxes. The boxes are right at the back so feel quite distant and give a letter box view with the circle overhang – might cut off heads at point. You’d feel much more involved in the show from fourth row but still far enough to really enjoy it and take it all in! I’d love to sit there!!

      Like

      1. Anita

        Hi! Your post is really helpful.. thanks!

        I’m looking at 4 tickets for around £100 . The dates I have found tickets are for stalls row c, 29 to 32 d row 36-39, e row 10-13 what do you reckon?

        Cheers!

        Like

      2. Theatress

        Hi Anita! That’s a though one, they’re all great seats and really close to the stage. I think if it were me I’d choose the ones on row c just because they’re the most central! The others would give you more of a side view!

        Like

Lets chat !!

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s