API

Overview

The Theatre 118 API is a single, public endpoint that returns 118’s current programme as JSON. It carries everything an outside listings site needs to reproduce a show accurately: the prose, the poster and gallery, every performance with its curtain time and sold-out state, the ticket types, and the show’s press quotes.

There is no key and no account. The feed is read-only and deliberately limited to public information — no sales, no customers, no contracts. Requests are rate limited so a scraper can’t hammer the venue’s database, and CORS is open, so a browser can call it directly.

Base URL https://theatre118.com/api

Quick start

Fetch the show list and read the first title back out:

curl

curl -s -H "Accept: application/json" \
  https://theatre118.com/api/v1/shows | jq '.shows[0].title'

The response is an object with a little venue metadata, a generation timestamp, and the shows themselves:

200 OK

{
  "venue": {
    "name": "Theatre 118",
    "url": "https://theatre118.com",
    "pay_what_you_can": true,
    "pay_what_you_can_minimum": 300,
    "booking_fee": 150
  },
  "generated_at": "2026-10-15T20:43:22+00:00",
  "count": 2,
  "shows": [
    {
      "id": 26,
      "slug": "working-it-out",
      "url": "https://theatre118.com/whats-on/working-it-out",
      "title": "Working it Out - October 2026",
      "subtitle": "Theatre 118's monthly new material night",
      "credits": null,
      "company": "Theatre 118",
      "ownership": "venue",
      "type": "Show",
      "badge": null,
      "description": "Theatre 118 reopens with our highly popular new material night. Every month, a range of acts perform brand new play extracts, stand-up, poetry, music and pretty much any other kind of live performance you can imagine.",
      "start_date": "2026-11-16",
      "end_date": "2026-11-16",
      "runtime": null,
      "runtime_minutes": 75,
      "age_rating": "Suitable for all ages",
      "content_warnings": null,
      "accessibility": null,
      "cast": null,
      "image": {
        "url": "https://theatre118.com/storage/event-thumbnails/working-it-out-uar2ltsx.png",
        "alt": null
      },
      "gallery": [],
      "performances": [
        {
          "date": "2026-11-16",
          "time": "20:00",
          "cancelled": false,
          "sold_out": false,
          "booking_url": "https://theatre118.com/book/385"
        }
      ],
      "ticketing": {
        "on_sale": true,
        "pay_what_you_can": true,
        "pay_what_you_can_minimum": 300,
        "booking_fee": 150,
        "external_url": null,
        "book_url": "https://theatre118.com/whats-on/working-it-out",
        "ticket_types": [
          {
            "name": "Standard Admission",
            "kind": "fixed",
            "price": 300
          },
          {
            "name": "Pay What You Can",
            "kind": "pay_what_you_can",
            "price": 300
          }
        ]
      },
      "press_quotes": []
    },
    {
      "id": 25,
      "slug": "sleeping-beauty-the-new-republic-of-port-dundas",
      "url": "https://theatre118.com/whats-on/sleeping-beauty-the-new-republic-of-port-dundas",
      "title": "Sleeping Beauty & the New Republic of Port Dundas",
      "subtitle": null,
      "credits": null,
      "company": "Theatre 118",
      "ownership": "venue",
      "type": "Show",
      "badge": null,
      "description": "Theatre 118's irreverent take on panto returns: with an all-new script, absurd comedy, banging tunes and a twisted spin on a traditional fairytale!",
      "start_date": "2026-12-16",
      "end_date": "2026-12-19",
      "runtime": null,
      "runtime_minutes": 100,
      "age_rating": "Suitable for audiences aged 14+",
      "content_warnings": null,
      "accessibility": null,
      "cast": null,
      "image": {
        "url": "https://theatre118.com/storage/event-thumbnails/01M4Y7AG0W9QGZYXD932JHG8B1.jpg",
        "alt": null
      },
      "gallery": [],
      "performances": [
        {
          "date": "2026-12-16",
          "time": "20:00",
          "cancelled": false,
          "sold_out": false,
          "booking_url": "https://theatre118.com/book/380"
        },
        {
          "date": "2026-12-17",
          "time": "20:00",
          "cancelled": false,
          "sold_out": false,
          "booking_url": "https://theatre118.com/book/381"
        },
        {
          "date": "2026-12-18",
          "time": "20:00",
          "cancelled": false,
          "sold_out": false,
          "booking_url": "https://theatre118.com/book/382"
        },
        {
          "date": "2026-12-19",
          "time": "14:30",
          "cancelled": false,
          "sold_out": false,
          "booking_url": "https://theatre118.com/book/383"
        },
        {
          "date": "2026-12-19",
          "time": "20:00",
          "cancelled": false,
          "sold_out": false,
          "booking_url": "https://theatre118.com/book/384"
        }
      ],
      "ticketing": {
        "on_sale": true,
        "pay_what_you_can": true,
        "pay_what_you_can_minimum": 300,
        "booking_fee": 150,
        "external_url": null,
        "book_url": "https://theatre118.com/whats-on/sleeping-beauty-the-new-republic-of-port-dundas",
        "ticket_types": [
          {
            "name": "Standard Admission",
            "kind": "fixed",
            "price": 1200
          },
          {
            "name": "Pay What You Can",
            "kind": "pay_what_you_can",
            "price": 1200
          }
        ]
      },
      "press_quotes": []
    }
  ]
}

The endpoint

GET https://theatre118.com/api/v1/shows

Returns every show that is active, not cancelled, of a performing kind, and on now or still to come. Shows are ordered soonest first. The endpoint takes no parameters.

Filtering by date or type is left to the client — see the examples. Past shows and call-outs are not part of the feed.

Top-level fields

Field	Type	Description
venue	object	Venue-wide metadata and policy. See below.
generated_at	string	When the response was assembled, as ISO 8601 with an offset.
count	integer	The number of shows in `shows`.
shows	array	The shows, soonest first.

Venue

Venue-wide policy — Pay What You Can, its minimum and the booking fee — is repeated inside every show’s ticketing, so an individual show can be rendered on its own.

Field	Type	Description
name	string	The venue’s public name, e.g. `Theatre 118`.
url	string	The venue’s homepage, so a listing can link back.
pay_what_you_can	boolean	Always `true`. Pay What You Can is offered on every show at 118.
pay_what_you_can_minimum	integer	The least a buyer may pay for a Pay What You Can ticket, in pence.
booking_fee	integer	The flat booking fee added to every order, in pence. Charged per order, not per ticket.

Show

Each entry in shows describes one production.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	The show’s internal ID. Stable, and safe to use as a key.
slug	string	A URL-safe identifier, unique across the site.
url	string	The show’s page on theatre118.com. The best place to send an audience.
title	string	The show’s title.
subtitle	string\|null	A short subtitle or tagline, if the show has one.
credits	string\|null	Writer, director and other credits, as plain text.
company	string\|null	The visiting company presenting the show. `null` for a Theatre 118 production.
ownership	<code>"company"</code> \| <code>"venue"</code>	Who presents the show: a visiting `company`, or Theatre 118 itself (`venue`).
type	string	The kind of show, e.g. `Play`, `Comedy`, `Musical`, `Spoken Word`. Call-outs (Opportunities) never appear in this feed.
badge	string\|null	An optional short editorial label, e.g. `Fringe preview`.
description	string\|null	The show’s prose as plain text, paragraphs separated by blank lines.
start_date	"YYYY-MM-DD"\|null	The first day of the run, local to Glasgow.
end_date	"YYYY-MM-DD"\|null	The last day of the run, local to Glasgow.
runtime	string\|null	A human-readable running time, as written for audiences, e.g. `1 hour 15 minutes, no interval`.
runtime_minutes	integer\|null	The running time in minutes, for sorting or filtering. The structured counterpart to `runtime`.
age_rating	string\|null	The recommended age, e.g. `14+`.
content_warnings	string\|null	Content notes, as plain text.
accessibility	string\|null	Access information for this show, as plain text.
cast	string\|null	The cast, as plain text.
image	object\|null	The poster: `{ url, alt }`. URLs are absolute.
gallery	array	Additional images, each `{ url, alt }`. Often empty.
performances	array	Every dated sitting. See Performances.
ticketing	object	Prices, sale status and booking link. See Ticketing.
press_quotes	array	Reviews carried by the show. May be empty.

Image object

The poster in image, and each entry in gallery:

Field	Type	Description
url	string	An absolute URL to the image. Hotlinking is fine; please cache.
alt	string\|null	Alternative text for the image, when 118 has written it.

Press quote object

Each entry in press_quotes:

Field	Type	Description
text	string	The quote itself.
source	string\|null	Where it was published, e.g. `The Herald`.
rating	integer\|null	A star rating out of five, when the source gave one.
context	string\|null	When or where the review ran, e.g. `Fringe 2025`.
url	string\|null	A link to the full review, when one is available.

Performances

A show’s performances are its dated sittings, earliest first — a matinee and an evening show can share a day. Tickets are sold against a performance, not a seat, so the feed reports only whether a performance is sold out, not how many tickets remain.

Field	Type	Description
date	"YYYY-MM-DD"	The performance date, local to Glasgow.
time	"HH:MM"\|null	The curtain time as a 24-hour local clock time. `null` when 118 has no time on record.
cancelled	boolean	Whether this individual performance has been cancelled.
sold_out	boolean	`true` when the performance tracks ticket stock and none is left. Exact remaining counts are not exposed.
booking_url	string\|null	A direct link into 118’s checkout. `null` when the show is not on sale or this performance is cancelled.

On sold-out state

sold_out is a live snapshot and can change as tickets sell. It is the flag to drive a badge or to hide a booking link; the checkout is always the source of truth. A performance that doesn’t track stock always reports false.

Ticketing

Every show carries a ticketing object describing how it can be booked and at what prices.

Field	Type	Description
on_sale	boolean	Whether tickets can be bought through Theatre 118 right now.
pay_what_you_can	boolean	Always `true`. Reported per show, reflecting 118’s venue-wide policy.
pay_what_you_can_minimum	integer	The least a buyer may pay for a Pay What You Can ticket, in pence. Read it from the response; it can change.
booking_fee	integer	The booking fee, in pence, added once per order.
external_url	string\|null	Where tickets are sold when they are not sold through 118, e.g. an external box office. Usually `null`.
book_url	string	The show’s public page, where a visitor chooses a performance and pays.
ticket_types	array	What a buyer can choose between: fixed prices first, Pay What You Can last. See below.

Ticket type object

Each entry in ticket_types:

Field	Type	Description
name	string	The ticket name shown to buyers, e.g. `Standard Admission` or `Concession`.
kind	<code>"fixed"</code> \| <code>"pay_what_you_can"</code>	A fixed price, or a Pay What You Can ticket the buyer prices themselves.
price	integer	The price in pence. For a Pay What You Can ticket, the suggested starting amount; buyers may pay more.

Pay What You Can, always

Theatre 118 offers Pay What You Can on every show, whatever the standard price. It is reported as true on the venue, on every show, and alongside the fixed ticket types. When you show a price to an audience, show the minimum and make clear they can pay more.

Conventions

Money is in pence

Every price is an integer number of pence in pounds sterling, never a float. 1400 is £14.00; 150 is £1.50. Divide by 100 for display.

The booking fee is per order

The booking fee is charged once per order, not once per ticket, and applies whether the buyer pays by card or in cash. Add it to the order total, not to each ticket.

Dates and times are local

Dates are plain YYYY-MM-DD and times are 24-hour clock times in Glasgow’s local time (Europe/London). There is no offset on time. Only generated_at carries an ISO 8601 offset.

Read the policy from the response

The Pay What You Can minimum and the booking fee can both change. Read them from the response rather than hard-coding today’s figures.

Refreshing politely

The feed is a snapshot, and sale states move. A five- or ten-minute cache is plenty for a listings page and keeps you well inside the rate limit. A link back to the show’s url is appreciated.

Examples

Flatten every performance into a listing

JavaScript

const response = await fetch('https://theatre118.com/api/v1/shows', {
  headers: { Accept: 'application/json' },
});
const { shows } = await response.json();

const listings = shows.flatMap((show) =>
  show.performances.map((performance) => ({
    title: show.title,
    company: show.company,
    venue: 'Theatre 118',
    date: performance.date,
    time: performance.time,
    soldOut: performance.sold_out,
    url: show.url,
  })),
);

console.log(listings);

Keep only shows with a performance in the next fortnight

JavaScript

const soon = shows.filter((show) =>
  show.performances.some((performance) => {
    const ahead = (new Date(performance.date) - Date.now()) / 86400000;
    return ahead >= 0 && ahead <= 14;
  }),
);

Read the feed from PHP

PHP

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;

$response = Http::acceptJson()
    ->get('https://theatre118.com/api/v1/shows');

foreach ($response->json('shows') as $show) {
    foreach ($show['performances'] as $performance) {
        echo $show['title'].' - '.$performance['date'].PHP_EOL;
    }
}

Read the feed from Python

Python

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://theatre118.com/api/v1/shows",
    headers={"Accept": "application/json"},
    timeout=10,
)
response.raise_for_status()

for show in response.json()["shows"]:
    prices = [t["price"] for t in show["ticketing"]["ticket_types"]]
    print(show["title"], "from", min(prices), "pence")

Rate limits & errors

Send Accept: application/json so that every response, including errors, comes back as JSON.

Rate limit

The endpoint allows 120 requests per minute per IP address, which is far more than a listings site needs. Every response carries the usual headers:

Field	Type	Description
X-RateLimit-Limit	integer	The ceiling for the window, `120`.
X-RateLimit-Remaining	integer	Requests left in the current window.
X-RateLimit-Reset	integer	When the window resets, as a Unix timestamp.

Status codes

Field	Type	Description
200 OK		The feed was returned.
404 Not Found		The path does not exist. Check the URL.
429 Too Many Requests		The rate limit was exceeded. Wait for the `Retry-After` header (seconds), then try again.
5xx		Something went wrong at our end. Retry with a backoff; it is almost always temporary.

There is no authentication, so there are no 401 or 403 responses from this endpoint.

Changelog

Changes are dated and versioned. Additive changes within a version are not breaking; anything that removes or renames a field, or changes its type, gets a new version and a fresh base path.

15 October 2026 · v1.0

First public release
- Added GET /api/v1/shows, unauthenticated and read-only.
- Venue metadata: name, homepage, Pay What You Can policy and minimum, booking fee.
- Show detail: prose as plain text, poster and gallery, cast, credits, age rating, content warnings and access notes.
- Every performance with its local date, curtain time, cancellation and sold-out state.
- Ticket types and prices in pence, plus a per-show booking link.
- Press quotes with source, rating, context and link.

Contact

Building something on the feed, need a higher rate limit, or spotted a mistake? Email theatre118glasgow@gmail.com and tell us what you’re making. If you reproduce our listings, a credit to Theatre 118 and a link back to the show page is all we ask.