Festival Accessibility

BSL sign language interpretation, delivered by an interpreter, gives a sign interpretation of the text sung and/or spoken by artists in the onstage production.

If you require this service, please let us know when booking so we can reserve you an appropriate seat. We have a selection of tickets on hold to ensure a good view of the interpreter, we are also happy to reserve you a seat for performances where seating is usually unreserved.

Captioning converts the spoken word into text that provides people with hearing impairments or who are deaf access to live performance. In captioning, the words appear on a screen at the same time as they are sung or spoken. Captions also include sound effects and offstage noises. For more information visit www.stagetext.org

Highly visual performances are those that are particularly enjoyable without aid of hearing. These events are highly visual and contain few or no words. You can also have a look at our full dance & circus and visual arts & film programmes.

Relaxed Performances are specifically designed to welcome people who will benefit from a more relaxed performance environment, including people with autism spectrum condition, sensory processing difficulties and/or communication disorders, or those who have additional needs. They are also dementia friendly.

There is a relaxed attitude to noise and movement, some small changes made to the light and sound effects, and an open door policy so you can move freely in and out of the auditorium with a chill out space available. Visual Stories are also made available ahead of your visit to help you familiarise with the production.

Audio description (AD) is additional commentary that explains what’s happening on screen. AD describes body language, expressions and movements, making the programme clear through sound.