Theatres throw their doors open with relaxed performances for all

The Festival City Theatres Trust once again expands its programme of relaxed performances for all.

The trust runs both the Festival and King’s Theatres in Edinburgh are two of Scotland’s best-loved and most prestigious theatres.

They are delighted to present its fullest ever programme of performances that embrace a relaxed approach that makes the performances accessible to audiences of all ages with mild to complex support needs.

Both the Festival and King’s Theatres are dedicated to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the theatre in a supportive environment, especially over the festive period.

Inclusive performances for audiences for children from Edinburgh’s special schools and for audiences of all ages with additional support needs include:

• Relaxed performance of the King’s panto, Cinderella, Friday, 12 January, 2pm.

• Schools relaxed performance of King’s panto, Cinderella, Thursday, 18 January, 10.30am.

Cinderella is this year’s panto at the King’s Theatre

• Every public performance in the run of Starcatcher’s The Attic in The Studio (6-21 January) is ‘relaxed’ with five additional performances for Edinburgh Special schools and an additional Dementia Friendly performance on Friday, 19 January, at 1.30pm.

The Festival City Theatres Trust helped foster a new approach in making live performances accessible to all with their relaxed performance of The Snowman at the Festival Theatre in December 2012.

Their performances are made possible with the support of sponsors and funders Rowan Glen, Arts & Business Culture & Business Fun Scotland, Radio Forth’s Cash for Kids and Walter Scott.

The Trust runs more access performances for audiences with sensory impairments throughout the year than any other theatre in Scotland including Captioned, British Sign Language Interpreted and Audio-Described performances.

They can also arrange Touch Tours for visually-impaired patrons to explore the set and feel props and costumes as well as providing Braille, large-print and audio versions of their brochure. In addition to the activities programmed throughout their festive shows they now have inclusive performances throughout the year for a wide variety of performances making them accessible to all.

For more information on shows at both the Festival and King’s Theatre, click HERE.