Privacy Policy

The Royal Court Theatre trades as The English Stage Company Limited and is a registered charity (number 231242) and a company limited by guarantee (539332) registered in England and Wales. The English Stage Company Limited operates two subsidiary companies – ESC Catering Limited (company number 5710832) for our Bar & Kitchen; and Royal Court Theatre Productions Limited (1759772) for West End and international transfers.

The Samuel French Bookshop operates within the theatre building but is a separate company. We will only share information with them if you opt in to join their mailing list when purchasing a playtext as part of your ticket purchase.

If you have an online account with us, you can amend your personal details and email contact preferences at any time by signing into your account here.
Or, if you prefer, you can contact us by phoning, emailing, or writing using our contact details set out at the top of this Privacy Policy.

Every email we send to you will include details on how to change your communications preferences or unsubscribe from future communications.

You can request full details of personal information we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998, or after 25 May 2018, The General Data Protection Regulation, by contacting the Data Team. Please send a description of the information you would like to see, together with proof of your identity to Data@royalcourttheatre.com

You also have the right to get information held about you by us corrected. If you have any concern about the accuracy of your personal data or if you would like us to remove the personal information we hold about you, please contact us using the contact details set out at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority, The Information Commissioner’s Office.

Are you under 18?
If you are under 18, please ensure that you obtain your parent/guardian’s consent beforehand whenever you provide personal information to the website. If you don’t have that consent, you must not provide personal information to us.

As part of the services offered to you through the Royal Court Theatre website, the personal information you provide may be transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA). By way of example, this may happen if any of the computer servers used to host the website are located in a country outside of the EEA. If The English Stage Company transfers your personal information outside of the EEA in this way, we will take steps to ensure that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this privacy notice.

The English Stage Company may transfer your data to the USA to organisations such as Facebook or Google. The USA has weaker data protection laws than that of the EEA and therefore we will ensure that only organisations who are a part of the EU privacy shield initiative will handle your personal information. More details on this certification can be found at www.privacyshield.gov/welcome

We collect personal information when you:

1. Create an account at royalcourttheatre.com which allows you to:
• Buy tickets or gift vouchers
• Sign up to our mailing list
• Join as a Friend or buy a membership
• Make a donation
• Sign up for Insight workshops
• Book to take part in a Young Court project
• Give us your access requirements
• Purchase the current production’s playtext by adding it to your basket with your ticket order.

2. Contact us by phone to:
• Buy tickets or gift vouchers
• Sign up to our mailing list
• Join as a Friend or buy a membership
• Make a donation
• Sign up for Insight workshops
• Book to take part in a Young Court project
• Give us your access requirements
• Purchase the current production’s playtext by adding it to your basket with your ticket order.
• Give feedback

3. Visit us in person:
• Buy tickets or gift vouchers
• Sign up to our mailing list
• Join as a Friend or buy a membership
• Make a donation
• Sign up for Insight workshops
• Book to take part in a Young Court project
• Give us your access requirements
• Purchase the current production’s playtext by adding it to your basket with your ticket order.
• Give feedback

4. Contact us by post to:
• Submit an application
• Submit a script
• Share feedback
• Make a donation

5. Email us directly to:
• Give general feedback
• Give First Look Feedback
• Share access requirements
• Enquire about Hires/Tour bookings

6. Make a reservation in the Bar & Kitchen by telephone or using our booking platform (currently ResDiary)

7. Visit our website -through your IP address given to us by your browser and through cookies – click here to view our cookie policy.

8. Purchase tickets to our productions through a third party ticket agent and/or make a donation to the Royal Court through a third party donation processing payment system

9. Attend an event by invitation, such as an Artistic Director’s Dinner or Evening Sponsorship Event or a Young Court event for teachers.

10. Via Social Media
We also collect and track anonymised data on our social media audiences to better understand the ‘groups’ of people who engage with us online. We use this to ensure we engage with audiences and groups of people who are new to us.

11. Via publically available information
We occasionally research publicly available information to estimate an individual’s potential interest in different membership levels or in supporting us further. We therefore use a small number of basic sources to aid us, including newspaper websites and archives, official websites of companies, charities and other arts organisations. We also occasionally obtain information, such as contact details, from volunteers working on our behalf as part of our fundraising council.

In some cases, we will rely on legitimate interest, being that of our charitable purposes and fundraising needs, for processing data of potential supporters and when making initial contact.

If you are purchasing tickets we may collect:
• Prefix and name
• Email address
• Date of Birth
• Contact phone number(s)
• Payment card details. If you choose to store your card with us, we can process future orders for you without needing to take your payment information again. We never store your payment card data. Instead, we use a secure token that we can use to authorise future payments.
• Delivery address(s)
• Billing address
• Access requirements– we only have this information if you chose to give it to us. It is used so we can best support your visits. For example, a preference for seats on an aisle, or with a clear view of captioning units. You can update your access requirements at any time by logging into your account.

If you are a supporter or member we may collect:
• Prefix and name
• Email address
• Contact phone number(s)
• Payment card details. If you choose to store your card with us, we can process future orders for you without needing to take your payment information again. We never store your payment card data. Instead, we use a secure token that we can use to authorise future payments.
• Bank details (if donating by direct debit)
• Affiliated Trust or Foundation (if donating via this channel)
• Current place of work and job title (if donating via this channel)
• Delivery address(s)
• Billing address
• Spouse/partner name and email address
• Personal Assistant name and email address
• Credit name for recognition
• Gift Aid eligibility

If you are a teacher we may collect:
• Name of institution
• Location of institution
• Type of institution
• Key stages and subject
• Email address
• Phone number

If you are a young person (14 – 25yrs) taking part in a workshop we may collect:
• Prefix and name
• Gender
• Email address
• Date of Birth
• Contact phone number
• Emergency contact name, phone number and address
• Photo permission
• Access needs
• Equal opportunities forms

If you are under 18, please ensure that you obtain your parent/guardian’s consent beforehand whenever you provide personal information to the website. If you don’t have that consent, you must not provide personal information to us.

If you submit a script, through the form on our website or by post, we may collect:
• Name
• Email address
• Postal address
• A record of play submitted and the readers report
We may also keep the script on file if the play proceeds to the second stage of being read by the Literary Department.

If you contact us with feedback online, by email, by phone or in person:
• We keep a record of the general correspondence on our database to help us improve customer service and experience .
• We keep a record of anonymised First Look Feedback for productions

When you email us or contact us by phone to make a restaurant reservation, using the ResDiary service we may collect:
• Prefix and name
• Contact phone number
• Email address

When you visit our website:
We also may collect an automatically populated IP address when you use our website or email service. This public IP address is a unique number which allows a computer, group of computers or other internet connected device to browse the internet. The log file records the time and date of your visit, the pages that were requested, the referring website (if provided) and your internet browser version. This information is collected to help diagnose and manage the website, to audit the geographical make-up of users, and to establish how they have arrived at the website.

We do use cookies which retain information about your online behaviour, preferences and settings. For more information, please refer to our our Cookie Policy.

If you have an account with us:
We keep a record of your interactions with us in our database, such as what shows you have purchased tickets to, when you have had an active membership, any projects you may have participated in, donations you have given (including gift aid) and whether you have received, opened or clicked through any emails we may have sent you.

When you visit our premises:
We use CCTV recording equipment in and around our premises for monitoring and security purposes in line with CCTV guidelines.

Co-producers and visiting companies: These organisations should not pass on your data to us without your knowledge and only if it is required in the performance of a contract. The third party will require your permission in order to share your data with us for marketing purposes. You should check their Privacy Policy when you provide your information to understand fully how they will process and safeguard your data.

Service providers: We collect personal information from our website developer, IT support provider, payment services provider, restaurant and bar booking service agents and agents who sell tickets on our behalf( they would provide only the name of the ticket booker).

Social Media: Depending on your settings or the privacy policies for social media services like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, you may give us permission to access information from those accounts or services, such as your behaviour on these services and across our site. The majority of this behaviour is anonymised. For more information on how to control your privacy settings for these services, go to the following links:

Facebook – Privacy Policy
Instagram – Privacy Policy
Twitter – Privacy Policy
YouTube – Privacy Policy
Soundcloud – Privacy Policy

Publically available information: To better understand those we are engaging with, including audience members and supporters, we occasionally research publicly available information to estimate their potential interest in different membership levels or in supporting us further. This may include philanthropic activities, trusteeship, and job history.

We will use your information for the purposes listed below either on the basis of:

• performance of your contract with us and the provision of our services to you;
• your consent (where we request it);
• where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation; or
• our legitimate interests (see below for further information).

Specifically, we use the information we collect from you in the following ways:

To carry out our business and to provide a service or carry out a contract with you:
● To fulfil ticket, merchandise, donation and membership requests
• To process payments. If you choose to store your card with us, we can process future orders for you without needing to take your payment information again. We never store your payment card data. Instead, we use a secure token that we can use to authorise future payments. Instead, we use a secure token that we can use to authorise future payments.
● To provide good customer service at the theatre or by phone
● To contact you with important information relating to your booking or purchase, such as confirming your order, reminding you of an upcoming performance you’ve booked for or letting you know about cast changes, travel disruption or changes to event times that may affect your visit.

To send you marketing communications:
● keep you up-to-date with news, offers, talks and events, products and information, and let you know about opportunities to support our work at the South Bank and in schools and communities across the UK (where you have provided your consent). You can tailor your preferences at any time by logging into the website here and updating your account
● send information by post about how you can support the Royal Court Theatre (on the basis of our legitimate business interests to seek support); and
● send marketing information to companies about our Corporate Membership schemes (on the basis of our legitimate business interests to promote the Royal Court Theatre).

To provide you with special assistance when you have provided sensitive information about your health.

To personalise your experience (on the basis of our legitimate interests to present you with the right kinds of products and services). We will use your personal information to:
● show you advertising on such Social Media platforms as Facebook and Instagram or via other third party advertising that may appear on other websites you use. You can opt-out of targeted advertising by emailing data@royalcourttheatre.com (please note that you may not see fewer ads, but they will be less relevant to your interests);
● understand your interests and personalise communications to you. For more information please see our Cookie Policy.

To conduct research (on the basis of our legitimate interests to improve our products, services and customer service). We will use your personal information:
● to measure and understand how our audiences respond to a variety of marketing activity so we can ensure our activity is well targeted, relevant and effective;
● to help diagnose and manage the website, to audit the geographical make-up of users, and to establish how they have arrived at the website.

To identify individuals for memberships and philanthropic support (on the basis of our legitimate interests to seek support and promote fundraising to a select number of our supporters, issue invitations to some of our fundraising events):
● For a small number of our audience members, where we want to better understand people’s engagement with the Royal Court Theatre as a registered charity (Nb 231242), and their potential interest in supporting us further.
● We occasionally seek to engage with some of our audience members, based on information collected directly from them such as the frequency of their visits and purchasing patterns, to promote our memberships or ask for additional support of our work

To ensure security and protect our business interests. In certain circumstances, we use your information to ensure the security of our services, buildings, and people, including to protect against, investigate and deter fraud, unauthorised or illegal activities, systems testing, maintenance and development (on the basis of our legitimate interests to operate a safe and lawful business or where we have a legal obligation to do so).

To comply with our legal obligations. In certain circumstances, we will need to use your information to comply with our legal obligations, for example to comply with any court orders or subpoenas, carry out due diligence in accordance with statutory regulations or keep our database accurate and relevant.

Legitimate interests
Where we refer to using your information on the basis of our “legitimate interests”, we mean our legitimate business interests in conducting and managing our business and our relationship with you, including the legitimate interest we have in:
• personalising, enhancing, modifying or otherwise improving the services and/or communications that we provide to you;
• detecting and preventing fraud and operating a safe and lawful business;
• improving security and optimisation of our network, sites and services; and
• providing you with customer service.

Where we use your information for our legitimate interests, we make sure that we take into account any potential impact that such use may have on you. Our legitimate interests don’t automatically override yours and we won’t use your information if we believe your interests should override ours unless we have other grounds to do so (such as your consent or a legal obligation).

Some examples
• Name on card, credit card number, billing address, CVV amount of transaction and order number with Sage Pay in order to process credit card transactions
• Name on bank account, bank account number, sort code, amount of direct debit, frequency and customer number with Sage Pay in order to process direct debit transactions
• Sort code and account number with Sage Pat in order to complete modulus and know your customer checks
• Name and email address with Dotmailer in order to produce e-marketing campaigns and pre & post show emails (e-marketing campaigns require consent)
• Service providers who aggregate data in order for us to do benchmark reporting across the industry, specifically:
• The Audience Agency for the purposes of the Audience Finder initiative. For more information on the data they collect, please refer to the following links on their website here
• List of supporters to funding bodies (we always respect anonymity where requested)
• Named third party organisations if you ticked the relevant opt-in box when you purchased tickets. In these instances, we may supply your personal information to that specific organisation only
• We will only supply full name and email address in these data shares and only with your consent
• Third party advertisers (such as Facebook or Google) to help us identify customers similar to our audience or to serve adverts they deem relevant to you on third party websites. The information shared with these advertisers is pseudonymised to protect your personal data.
• Our ticketing system provider Spektrix who provide support should our ticketing system require maintenance
• Hotjar to optimize our website and online experience. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behavior and their devices. Hotjar is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf. For further information please see here.
• Where required to do so, or when requested by the police or a regulatory or government authority investigating illegal activities

The English Stage Company is not responsible for the privacy notices and practices of other websites even if accessed using links from royalcourttheatre.com and recommends that you check the policy of each website you visit and contact its owner or the Data team if you have any concerns or questions.
Despite all our precautions, no data transmission over the internet is 100% secure. So, we cannot guarantee the security of any information which you disclose to us and so wish to draw your attention to the fact that you do so at your own risk.

We will keep your information only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice and to fulfil our legal obligations. We will not keep more information than we need. The retention period will vary according to the purpose, for example if purchasing a ticket only, we will typically keep your data for up to ten years from the date of your last point of engagement whereas if you have become a supporter or are a past or current member, we will hold your details indefinitely.

If you ask us to stop sending direct marketing communications to you, we will retain the information required (e.g. name, address or email address) to ensure we adhere with such requests.

Further information on data protection regulations and laws can be found here:
Data Protection Information by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Code of Fundraising Practice by the Fundraising Regulator