British theatres outside of London are a real recent success story, blossoming in the face of adversity. With cuts to arts programmes going on at the same time that potential customers are being hit by tough financial ciircumstances, it’s been a difficult time for them. With David Cameron promising to continue austerity policies it doesn’t look like theatres will be receiving much more from the government in the near future, except perhaps for the odd gold throne or white tie for their props and costume departments.
However, in spite of all that, theatres across the country are continuing to excel and provide a diverse range of top quality work. Regional theatres show that there’s more to this country than London and they can actually be better and more thought provoking than many plays on the West End. What’s more, there are also lots of theatres that have recently done, or are about to do, work to make their buildings more accessible for the less able. Let’s have a look at some of the finest the country has to offer:
The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon (Box Office – 0844 800 1110)
The theatre in the home of the Bard of Avon himself has enjoyed something of a a twenty-first century renaissance. The company which celebrates our most iconic playwright has flourished in the last ten years or so and the two theatres in Stratford have been completely transformed. The particularly good thing about all this was that when the RSC building reopened in 2010 it was more accessible than ever.
There are two theatres within the RSC’s Stratford premises. The larger of the two is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre which is a 1,040 seater thrust stage auditorium with twelve dedicated wheelchair spaces. We feel that number could be a little higher considering the size of the auditorium but it is still a good deal of seats for wheelchair users compared to a lot of other theatres.
Gaining access to the theatre has been made much easier since the revamp. There is lift access to all levels of the theatre, the restaurant and the viewing platform as well as disabled accessible toilets on all floors. There are loop systems for hard of hearing patrons in the auditoria, the box office, cloakroom, stage door and at the shop counters.
They say that: “our philosophy is to make everything we do accessible to all our audiences. We offer Captioned and Audio Described performances along with Touch Tours helping to enhance your experience at the theatre.” For more details, on when those are and more, you can go to their website.
The Swan Theatre is the RSC’s more intimate stage, although it’s still a 450 seater so it’s not exactly tiny. It shares its front of house space with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre so the access is very similar. They don’t have wheelchair spaces on as many different levels of the auditorium but there are some on the ground level, towards the back.
This winter the RSC are putting on Richard the Second with David Tennant in the lead role and stage adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s Booker prize winners – Wolf Hall and Bringing Up The Bodies – which should be very interesting to see.
The Lyric Theatre, Manchester (Box Office – 0843 208 6000)
Based in the Lowry building, in Salford Quays, The Lyric is an excellent modern theatre. The building opened in 2000 as a new hub for art and creativity in all forms. The theatre hosts touring plays and other acts from music and comedy. From the end of November until late January, War Horse is coming to town. After that, touring comedians, Shakespeare troupes and Operas take it in turns to take to the stage.
As you’d probably expect from a public building which opened in 2000, The Lowry is pretty accessible with an open ramped route which connects the theatre foyers and gallery spaces. All floors are accessible by wheelchair and there are accessible toilets. The Lyric has 26 wheelchair accessible seats in the stalls with further spaces at the back of the circle. They “recommend that Blue Badge holders enter the car park at the entrance near the mini roundabout on the road leading from The Quays as this will allow parking on the ground floor level”.
They have a hearing loop throughout the building and digital hearing aid enhancement system within the theatre. They also have some audio described performances, touch tours of the building and an online audio brochure.
The Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester (Box Office – 01243 781312)
The CFT has been going strong for over fifty years now. Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi and Penelope Keith are among those who have come to tread the boards in their Minerva theatre. Currently, the Tony winning and Oscar nominated American, Frank Langella, is ‘giving his King Lear’ which has been given wonderful reviews and remarkably still has tickets available, although it finishes at the end of November. That run will be followed by Roald Dahl’s, The Witches which should be a lot of fun for the family.
Once again, the access is good and well laid out on their website. There are two seats for wheelchair users in the Minerva theatre, accessible by lift to the first floor and eight seats in the summer Theatre in the Park. They have accessible toilets, hearing units and audio described performances. Disabled guests and their companions also get a 40% discount on their tickets which is a nice touch.
The REP, Birmingham (Box Office – 0121 236 4455)
The Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s new 300-seat studio venue is the city’s only major producing theatre. It reopened in September this year, to celebrate its 100 year anniversary, after a redevelopment which has left it looking modern and stylish. Making theatre from scratch remains at the heart of the theatre’s work so it’s a good place to see unusual or new plays.
The REP has three auditoria – The House, The Door and The Studio – all of which have wheelchair seating. The largest of these is The House which seats 800 and has wheelchair seating at the front and halfway up, on row L. There’s more information on their website.
The Old Vic, Bristol (Box Office – 0117 987 7877)
The Bristol Old Vic is the longest continuously running theatre in the country and therefore should probably be allowed the title of The Old Vic over its London namesake. Alas, life isn’t fair, so this is The Bristol Old Vic.
This winter they’re adding The Little Mermaid to their recent run of successful Christmas shows. They’re promising “a tale of heroic adventure, true love, luminous music and a generous splash of festive magic”. It could be a nice alternative to the unadulterated panto at The Hippodrome. Early next year the Old Vic are staging Talon – a gothic thriller that “tears at your deepest desires” – and an adaptation of Jane Eyre.
The Bristol Old Vic have plans for another £12 million revamp beginning in 2015 and completed in 2016. The building is, as it currently stands, despite a recent makeover, still looking a bit too much like the 250 year old that it very nearly is. After a little nip/tuck the theatre will be, amongst other things, more accessible than ever. Currently their access isn’t really too much of a problem – the have wheelchair spaces, accessible toilets and audio described/signed performances – it’s just a little reliant on platform lifts and is not totally modernised.
The West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds (Box Office – 0113 213 7700)
The WLP has established itself as a focal point for Yorkshire’s creative talent. Since opening in 1990 the theatre has created a solid reputation with perhaps its most famous production being Lenny Henry’s theatre debut as Othello, which transfered to the West End. The Playhouse has two theatres: the Quarry with 750 seats and the smaller, more flexible Courtyard with 350 seats. They put on inventive, exciting and crowd pleasing performances. The big Christmas show this year is The Jungle Book, based on Rudyard Kipling’s book with amazing puppetry and live music (although apparently no trace of Disney there).
The Playhouse has a range of disabled parking at the front of the building, level access, braille signs and lifts inside the building. Guide dogs and hearing dogs for the deaf are very welcome. There are wheelchair spaces in both of their auditoria and accessible toilets are on site. As per usual, their website has more information about access.
The Octagon, Bolton (Box Office – 01204 520661)
The Guardian recently described The Octagon as “the most revitalised regional theatre in the country”. The theatre, which has two performing spaces, has been a real beacon of talent in the area. Fantastic actors like Maxine Peake, Alison Steadman and Robert Powell started their careers at the Octagon and hopefully the new wave of talent can have a similar success in the future. Like many other theatres, they’re putting on a festive crowd pleaser, this time in the shape of Robin Hood.
The Octagon has a flat foyer entrance, with lift access to the Main Auditorium and William Hare Bar and wheelchair spaces in both theatre spaces (two in the Main Auditorium, several in the Studio Theatre), which must be booked in advance. They have an infrared hearing system and do offer a BSL and an audio described performance of each show that they run. Find out more here.
The Crucible, Sheffield (Box Office – 0114 249 6000)
Well known as the venue for the Snooker World Championships, The Crucible is our favoured part of the Sheffield Theatres group for the festive season. While its fellow large scale theatre, The Lyceum, goes ‘full panto’ with H from Steps this Christmas, The Crucible are putting on a winter run of Oliver!. After that, along with The Studio (the final third of the group) these venues host plays, musicals and comedy acts that come through town on tour. There are a lot of top plays coming through early next year to look out for.
There are spaces for wheelchairs in each of the auditoria. The Crucible and the Lyceum both offer level access into the buildings and lift access to different levels. There are accessible toilet facilities in both buildings. The Theatres offer captioned, audio described and signed performances of most productions. Details of these can be found in the Access Performance Diary.
Don’t forget to call in advance to book tickets if you need a wheelchair space. The theatres are all very helpful but the easiest and often only way to get these spaces is over the phone!