A silent scream might be some people's response when it comes to booking tickets for Marcel Marceau's mime shows in Dublin next month. Theatregoers are facing extra charges of up to £4.80 per ticket.
A radio advertisement for the shows at the Olympia Theatre states that tickets cost from £20.50 to £27.50, subject to a £2.50 booking fee.
Mr Brian Whitehead of the Olympia Theatre said tickets were on sale at this price to people walking into the theatre. Essentially, he said, tickets cost £23, £27, and £30 at the box office. However, telephone bookings to the Olympia were subject to a further 10 per cent charge, making the cheapest ticket £25.30.
Mr Eamon O'Connor, general manager of Ticketmaster, which is also selling tickets to the Marceau show, said the cheapest tickets were £23, plus a £1 agency fee for walk-in sales and £2 for telephone sales, as tickets had to be posted out to purchasers.
The Advertising Standards Authority has confirmed that it has received a complaint and is investigating.
Earlier this week The Irish Times received complaints about a £2-per-ticket booking fee for Aladdin in the Gaiety, which was not mentioned in the theatre guide advertisement in this newspaper.
A Gaiety spokesman said the listing was "not a display ad. It's more of a reference, a one-glance one-stop shop. When people are purchasing tickets by telephone the charges are made clear to them."
The Consumer Information (Advertisements for Concert or Theatre Performances) Order, 1997, states that in every written advertisement for a public concert or theatre performance the admission price must be indicated and "where applicable, and separately, the amount, in monetary terms or percentage terms, of any additional charge and the circumstances in which such additional charges are payable."
In all other forms of advertising the admission price must be stated together with a rider that an additional charge may be payable in certain circumstances.