Friday Rush FAQs

Every Friday at 1pm 49 Friday Rush tickets are made available to buy for each of the performances in the following week, from Saturday to the following Friday. Tickets are available for almost all Royal Opera and Royal Ballet performances on the main stage in our Covent Garden site, including any sold-out performances that fall within the week on sale. The best way to buy these tickets is via the Royal Opera House website. Find the list of available performances, and a countdown to the next Friday Rush release.

Friday Rush replaces the day tickets we used to offer. The Royal Opera House used to hold back a small allocation of day tickets to be sold in person from 10am on the day of a performance, with a limit of one ticket per person. The 49 Friday Rush tickets replace that allocation of day tickets, enabling customers to buy up to two tickets per performance at a range of prices up to a week before and without having to queue up in Covent Garden. Friday Rush tickets are only available online or by telephone, your best opportunity is online.

Depending on national holidays and other events, sometimes (and very rarely) Friday Rush tickets will be released on a different day. In these cases the change of date will be flagged on the Friday Rush page, with a week’s notice.

Friday Rush tickets are offered for almost all performances by The Royal Opera or The Royal Ballet on the main stage at the Royal Opera House.

Friday Rush tickets are not available for performances by The Royal Ballet or The Royal Opera in other theatres on our Covent Garden site, such as the Clore Studio or Linbury Theatre, or for performances in external venues, such as the Barbican or the Roundhouse. They are also not available for any performance by a visiting company, such as the Mariinsky or the Bolshoi.

There is a small number of instances where Friday Rush tickets are not offered for performances by The Royal Opera or The Royal Ballet on the main stage – for example, for our Schools’ Matinees or galas.

There are 49 tickets available, in the Stalls Circle (sides), Amphitheatre (rear) and Balcony sections of the auditorium. The Balcony tickets are for standing places. Friday Rush tickets are displayed in the same way as other tickets in our online booking system. If a particular performance is not sold-out, then you will be able to see all other available tickets at the same time as Friday Rush tickets. Subject to availability and our ticket limits, you may buy Friday Rush tickets and tickets from our usual range at the same time.

Friday Rush tickets are available at a range of prices that varies slightly for each production. The tickets included in Friday Rush are in general at our lower price ranges, so offer a chance to buy cheaper tickets for in-demand performances.

There is a limit of two Friday Rush tickets per person for each performance, whether a performance is sold-out or not. If a particular performance is not sold-out, then you will be able to see other available tickets; there is no ticket limit on these (with some rare exceptions).

In each allocation of Friday Rush tickets there is at least one wheelchair space and one companion seat per performance. These tickets can be purchased online, over the phone or in person. You can only purchase the wheelchair space and companion seat online if you are registered as a wheelchair user through the ROH Access Membership scheme.

Find out more about ROH Access Membership.

We highly recommend where possible that Friday Rush tickets are booked online. If you are unable to book online then these tickets may be booked over the phone as soon as they are released on Friday at 1pm (a few times a year the day may change depending on national holidays and other events – find out more about alternative Rush dates).

ROH Access Members can book online or call the Box Office on +44 (0)20 7304 4000 from 1pm on Friday.

Friday Rush tickets bought online are delivered as e-tickets. Find out more about e-tickets.

Yes. Please note the Terms and Conditions of Exchanging tickets.