Build a theatre website that presents the season and hands off to the box office
Audiences come to a theatre website to answer three questions: what's on, when, and how do I get a ticket. Anticode can present the season well, with a page for every show and clear access information. Seat selection and ticketing need a box-office system, so each performance links out to it. Here's how to plan that split.
The season at a glance
The homepage should show what's playing now and what's next, as a scannable list rather than a slideshow that rotates past the show someone came for. Each item needs the title, company, dates, a genre or one-line description, an age guide and a "Book" button. Below that, a link to the full season. Theatres that programme visiting companies, a resident company and community work might split the season into those strands so regulars find their kind of show quickly.
A show page that answers everything
Generic event templates give shows a poster and a paragraph. Theatregoers, and especially people bringing children, older relatives or access needs, look for much more:
- Dates and times, including matinées and the running time with interval.
- Age guidance and content notes: strong language, smoke, haze, strobe, loud noises, themes some may find distressing.
- Access performances: captioned, audio-described, relaxed and BSL-interpreted dates, clearly marked.
- Cast and creative team, and the company's background.
- Price range and concessions, with a link to the full ticket terms.
- Reviews and quotes you've actually received, with the source named.
- A ticket link for each performance that goes straight to that performance in your box office, not to its homepage.
In Anticode, keep shows in a shows CMS collection with fields for title, company, dates, running time, age guide, content notes, access dates, prices and booking link. Each show gets its own page and the season overview lists them. Box-office staff or the marketing team update entries in the dashboard.
Ticketing: link to the box office
Anticode doesn't sell tickets, show a seating plan, hold seats or limit capacity. Theatres need all of that, so use your box-office system and link to it. Two details make the hand-off smooth:
- Link each performance date directly to its booking page, so nobody has to find the show again in the box office.
- Match the look as far as your box office allows, and say on the show page what the next step is ("You'll choose your seats on our booking site").
For simpler events without seating, such as a workshop or a one-off talk, a checkout link from Stripe Payment Links or PayPal can take payment, though it won't cap numbers or issue tickets. The sell workshop tickets workflow covers that case.
Venue information and access
A Your Visit page should cover the address and how to get there, parking and drop-off, when doors open, the bar and food, cloakroom, and the auditorium layout. The access page deserves real detail: step-free routes to each seating area, wheelchair spaces and how to book them, companion tickets, hearing loops or assistive listening, toilets, quiet spaces, and how to get in touch about needs. Anticode's design gate checks the site itself for visible keyboard focus, alt text and reduced-motion support before publishing.
Membership, donations and getting involved
Many theatres depend on friends schemes and donations. A Support page can explain each membership tier, and its buttons can open your payment link from Stripe Payment Links or PayPal. An account has one payment link, so list the tiers and donation options at your provider. Anticode doesn't keep member records, priority-booking windows or renewals; those usually live in the box-office system. For auditions, volunteering and youth theatre, a contact form (name, email, message) with clear prompts handles first enquiries, and a connector can copy them to a Google Sheet or a Slack channel. The newsletter form can send sign-ups to Mailchimp or Kit for season announcements.
Design and the limits
Let production photography lead. Editorial (Geist) suits a producing theatre with long-form writing; Playful (Fredoka) suits children's theatre; the Dark theme can help a studio theatre's moody imagery. The FORM/26 conference template's kinetic type is a reference for a bolder, festival-style season.
Questions people ask
Can audiences book seats on my Anticode site?
No. There's no seating plan or ticketing. Each performance's button links to that performance in your box-office system.
How do we show access performances?
Add fields for captioned, audio-described, relaxed and BSL dates to the shows collection, and show them on each show page and the season list.
Can we take donations online?
Yes, with a button linked to a checkout link from Stripe Payment Links or PayPal. Donor records stay with your payment provider or CRM.