All across the UK, opera companies, theaters, and orchestras are testing cut-price ticketing schemes designed to lure first-timers to performances they ordinarily wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. “So it is £10 at the National Theatre, £5 for students at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new Albery season, a third off for two operas or more at English National Opera, £5 at Welsh National Opera, and ‘pay what you can’ nights at the Bristol Old Vic.” Slashing ticket prices may smell a bit of desperation, but the strategy is working: the National Theatre had 50,000 new patrons last season, and a third of those have returned this year.