'Relaxed' panto performance

The festive season isn't over yet at the Playhouse, where the famous rock 'n' roll panto is still going strong. And as part of its ongoing scheme to make theatre more accessible for everyone, the venue is holding its third relaxed performance with a tailor-made presentation of Aladdin (It's Raining Zen) on Tuesday, January 14 at 5.30pm. The Playhouse was one one of the first venues to stage performances of this type outside London when it began doing so in 2012. Slight adjustments are made to the performance including lighting, sound and special effects to suit the audience based on expert advice. These changes are also reflected in the front of house areas, allowing audience members to respond and interact with the show however they feel. There is a 'chill-out' area and children and families can leave and enter the auditorium throughout the show to suit their needs. The idea for the relaxed shows came the Everyman and Playhouse’s regular meetings with their Access Forum. The forum advise on a range of issues and it was suggested a performance of this sort would be beneficial to many families and individuals who were previously not able to access and fully enjoy the live theatre experience due to the constraints that normal theatre-viewing etiquette requires. The theatres offer a range of accessible performances at all their home-grown productions, and audiences can access a British sign language interpreted performance of the panto today (Tuesday January 7) at 7pm, audio described performances on Thursday January 16 at 1.30pm and 7pm, as well as a captioned show on Saturday January 11 at 1.30pm. For more information on the range of access performances offered by the Everyman and Playhouse, you can email access@everymanplayhouse.com