# QR codes for theatres

> A programme QR code gives every visitor cast bios, and the same code serves a large-print programme — an accessibility win print cannot match. Add interval pre-ordering, which has hard maths: a 20-minute interval and one bar. Keep scanning in the foyer, not the auditorium.

Source: https://useqr.app/qr-codes-for/theatres · Last reviewed 2026-08-21 · UseQR is free forever, MIT licensed, no signup.

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## The digital programme

Printed programmes cost money to produce and are bought by a fraction of the house; the
rest watch the cast wondering where they have seen the lead before. A code on the ticket,
the cast board and the free cast sheet, linking a digital programme — bios, production
notes, creative team — serves every seat for the cost of one page template.

The quiet win is accessibility: the **same code** serves a large-print programme, a
screen-reader-friendly version and translations, because the visitor's own phone applies
their text size. That is a genuine
[accessible-design](/docs/design/accessible-qr-code-design) advantage no printed
programme matches. Keep selling the printed one — it is a souvenir, and some patrons
will always prefer it.

## Interval pre-ordering has a clock

The maths is unforgiving: a **20-minute interval**, one bar, and several hundred people
who all decided on a drink at the same moment. A pre-order code on the cast sheet and
foyer signage — order before curtain, collect from the shelf at interval — moves the
queue to before the show. The [menu-style](/menu-qr-code) page must be one screen, card
saved, three taps; anyone still filling a form at curtain abandons the order.

## The subscription moment

The best moment to sell next season is the walk out of a show the audience loved. Codes
on the exit doors and in the programme linking the season announcement — with a
[calendar code](/calendar-qr-code) for priority-booking day — catch goodwill that has
evaporated by the next morning's email.

## Etiquette: the foyer, not the stalls

A theatre asks phones to disappear at curtain. Respect your own request: codes belong on
tickets, cast sheets, foyer boards and bars — places used before, at interval and after.
Nothing in the auditorium should invite a lit screen during a performance, and pre-show
announcements should not send an audience scanning in the dark; that is scanning in
[the worst light in the building](/docs/scanning/qr-scanning-in-low-light) anyway.

## FAQ

### What should a theatre programme QR code link to?

A digital programme for the current production: cast and creative bios, notes, running
time and interval details. The same link should offer a large-print version — the
visitor's phone handles text size, which is the accessibility advantage over print.

### How does interval pre-ordering by QR code work?

Patrons scan in the foyer before curtain, order and pay on one short page, and collect
from a named shelf at interval. It works because ordering moves outside the 20-minute
window; the page must be fast enough to finish before the bells.

### Where should QR codes not go in a theatre?

Anywhere that invites a phone during the performance. Keep codes to tickets, cast
sheets, foyer signage and the bar. The auditorium is the one room where the venue has
asked screens to stay dark — codes there work against the house rules.

## Try it

- https://useqr.app/url
- https://useqr.app/menu
- https://useqr.app/calendar