Boxes at the Victoria Palace Theatre

There are Boxes in three places here, and they're not all the same buy. The view from a Box is either very side-on or, at the back, a letterbox, and the appeal is having a private space rather than the sightline.

The Stalls Boxes

Six Boxes behind row U, lettered A to F, with four seats each on movable chairs. They sit higher than the back row, so there are no heads in front of you. The Royal Circle overhead frames the stage like a letterbox, but nothing in the show is out of sight, and they're a decent place to watch from. Boxes A and F are the wheelchair Boxes, and Box E isn't sold, as it holds the sound desk.

The Victoria, Matcham and Albert Boxes

Behind row L of the Royal Circle are three Boxes with names instead of letters, four seats in each. The centre one, the Matcham, which shares its name with the theatre's architect, sees the most and costs the most, with the Victoria and the Albert either side. All three sit under the Grand Circle, so the very top of the stage can be out of view.

The side Boxes

Two small Boxes on each side of the Royal Circle, and two on each side of the Grand Circle, with two seats each. They're very side-on and miss a slice of the stage nearest to them, and at Grand Circle level there's a rail across the front. Royal Circle Boxes B and D, the pair nearest the stage, lose the side balcony on the set.

Better seats for the money

For a first Hamilton, the centre of the Royal Circle, rows B to D, or the middle of the Stalls, rows F to K. Either sees the whole stage head-on, which no Box does.

When a Box does make sense

A Box gives you your own space, movable chairs and room for your coats and bags. The four-seat Boxes, at the back of the Stalls and behind the Royal Circle, suit a group of four who'd rather sit together in private than have the straightest view. For wheelchair users, Stalls Boxes A and F are where the wheelchair spaces are.