CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE
- Rarars adventures
- Apr 29, 2022
- 4 min read
Hi, Thank you for joining us, This month we thought we would visit the Chichester Festival Theatre, as it has a lot to offer people with visible and invisible disabilities.
You will see that it is actually quite big, and there is a lot there, the Chichester theatre has inside the festival theatre auditorium, the main box office, a cafe, and bars.
They have the Mineva theatre which again has the auditorium, restaurants, and bars. also the
Steven Pimlott building is used for rehearsals, CFYT, and community classes.
They run a lot of groups at the theatres, and I have quoted this from the website to give you the right information:-
"The learning, educational participation (LEAP) Department creates a year-round program of practical workshops, talks, tours, performances, and much more. With opportunities for all ages and abilities, we aim to excite and inspire every person that engages with us.
Alongside our program of public events, we work closely with the community groups, schools, and partner organizations on a range of projects for each of our strands of outreach work." if you would like to learn more I shall leave all the links in the description below. Access
There is a lot in place for people with visible and invisible disabilities, some of the things they cover are:-
FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE DEAF OR HAVE HEARING IMPAIRMENTS
"There are free Sennheiser listening units for all performances or if you switch your hearing aid to T you can use the induction loop in both theatres, and the box office.
they also offer transcribed podcasts and recorded talks. Further assistance for those with impaired hearing, they have installed systems to help those with impaired hearing in both theatres which are equipped with an infra-red audio enhancement system. and an induction loop system for use by those with hearing aids, in order to use the system a patron should set there hearing aid to T position once inside the auditorium."
RELAXED PERFORMANCES:-
"relaxed and dementia-friendly performances, welcome individuals living with dementia as well as their friends family, and carers. Minor adjustments will be made to ensure a more dementia-friendly atmosphere."
CFT buddies:-
This is amazing CFT is for people who don't want or like going to the theatre alone so they offer a companion to meet you, who will stay with you throughout your whole visit. I love this idea."
WHEELCHAIR USERS
"There are 16 wheelchair spaces in the festival theatre over two levels, with accessible lifts on either side of the auditorium. There are two wheelchair spaces in the Minerva Theatre. These seats are bookable.
They also have wheelchairs that you can borrow subject to availability, so you will need to reserve one in advance if this is something that you need."
VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS
"-Braille is available on all row ends and individual seats in the Festival Theatre.
Braille and large print cast lists are available for all Festival productions.
- Audio-described performances make productions more accessible to the blind and visually impaired people by providing live narration from a friendly voice through headphones.
-Touch tours
Enable customers to explore the set, props, and costumes used within specific productions.
These take place 90 minutes before a described performance and last approximately 30 minutes."
The toilets are amazing, they automatically start to describe what you are looking at as you walk in for vision-impaired people, you just say yes to continue, if you don't then the description stops. This is so that you are able to access all parts of the toilet knowing where everything is. We were shown this on our visit and we were so impressed, it would be great if a lot more places could do the same, it would make such a difference to so many people.
We had a lovely time visiting Chichester Festival Theatre, to be able to go round and be able to find out what they offer. This is something that they have put a lot of work and research into and sourced out the right training for their staff, to offer the right help to members of the public visiting Chichester Festival Theatre.
I personally have trouble with anxiety and panic attacks, but knowing about the CFT buddy program would make me feel more confident about visiting, knowing that there would be someone there to meet me and stay with me until the end of the show.
I would recommend visiting if you are worried or concerned, just call them and they will explain what they can offer, or look on their website through the links down below.
We would like to say a massive thank you to Chichester Festival Theatre for letting us pop along to visit to share with others what to expect before visiting, and thank you to our readers as well.
Don't forget if you would like to check out the film we did on youtube the link is down below.
Thank you for reading will see you again soon
Links
Main website
Access
Booking information
Take A Tour
To watch the film we did the link below will take you there don't forget to subscribe as this will really help support what we are doing.
