The Bolshoi Theatre will begin to sell tickets with passport numbers on them, according to Anatoly Iksanov, the theatre's director general. The new system will start its work on 28 November 2011.

      Thereby the Bolshoi Theatre tries to struggle against the ticket speculators, who resell tickets for the theatre's premiers several time more expensive. Iksanov pointed out at fact that such measures were taken because of the lack of the articles in Russian legislation for ticket speculators punishment.

      So there is a usual situation when all tickets for the month are sold, but agencies and speculators sell it for vastly inflated prices. A 3,000 ruble ($100) ticket can go for as much as 40,000 rubles. And, after the Bolshoi Theatre's reopening, there has been a surge in ticket sales, including many speculation deals.

      The new distribution system will allow to buy tickets via the Internet and the Bolshoi box office. Anatoly Iksanov said the Bolshoi Theatre had borrowed the idea of selling tickets with passport numbers from La Scala Theatre in Milan. The Italian theatre has gone even further and began to release the tickets for sale only on the day of the show. At the same time he admitted that there was no such a perfect system which could be entirely free from the speculations.  

Sources: Lenta.ru RIA Novosti Image: Travel.ru

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