We are always looking at ways of making our performances more accessible to our visitors, so as many people as possible can experience theatre at its best.

All public facing areas of our theatre are or can be made wheelchair accessible, there are accessible toilets on all of our floors, and we offer a fantastic range of accessible performances:

• Providing two audio described and captioned performances for every production running over six weeks
• Putting on integrated British Sign Language (BSL) performances, where the interpreter becomes part of the stage action
• Expanding our provision to people with additional needs, including autism, dementia, and mothers with new babies
• Increasing relaxed and chilled performances, which make adjustments to better welcome visitors who may find the theatre otherwise inaccessible
• Reserving front row tickets for those with visual impairments
• Running free touch tours for audio described performances

We also gave technology and expertise for two fledgling theatre companies this year, to caption their productions at our outdoor The Dell stage (pictured).

We are also delighted to have been shortlisted for Experience of the Year, based on our guided tours which share the secrets of theatre-making with our visitors, showing them areas they wouldn't normally get to see; and also for Large Visitor Attraction of the Year.

The winners for all three awards will be announced in February 2020.