Accessible Performances and Films

Booking tickets and visiting venues

Booking tickets for accessible performances can vary slightly from venue to venue. For the most up-to-date information, please see the Access and building information and contact details for the venue you wish to visit.

• Theatre Royal, Glasgow
• Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
• His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen
• Eden Court Theatre, Inverness
• Theatre Royal, Newcastle
• Sadler’s Wells, London 

Audio Description and Touch Tours

Touch Tours and Audio Descriptions enhance the experience of attending the ballet for anyone who is blind, partially sighted, neurodivergent or would otherwise simply benefit from having this additional information and insight. The Touch Tour is included in the price of the Audio Description ticket.

At 1pm on the day of the performance, the Touch Tour offers the chance to get up close to a selection of costumes and props. Led by the two audio describers, it also allows the TT/AD audience to hear more about the dancers and the characters they are playing.

Following the Touch Tour and a brief break, the audio describers provide a live commentary of the performance broadcast through the theatre’s personal headsets. At 2.20pm the commentary begins with an introduction setting the scene before the curtain goes up at 2.30pm. The live commentary describes the set and costumes, atmosphere, characters and action on stage whilst allowing enough space to enjoy and appreciate the music played by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra.

Some things to know:

• Tickets should be booked by phoning the venue box office. Be sure to let them know you are booking for the Touch Tour and Audio Described performance, so they can advise you of the best seats for broadcast reception.
• Most theatres have an Access Scheme which offers discounted tickets for you and/or your essential companion or friend.
• In advance of the production, an audio recording of the synopsis will be available on our website.
• Cast lists and programme articles are also available in braille or large print. Please contact access@scottishballet.co.uk to request a copy.
• Audience members don’t need any existing knowledge of ballet or its terminology to enjoy to the experience.
• Theatre staff will provide you with a personal headset and will be on-hand to help with these as necessary.
• Theatre staff will also be able to help you navigate the theatre at the interval and can help you with getting refreshments.
• We will provide the names of our experienced Audio Describers in advance of each performance on our website.

Scottish Ballet’s Engagement Producer Lorna Murray is joined by Audio Describer Emma-Jane McHenry and Allan Russell, Producer at RNIB radio on an episode of Scottish Ballet’s Half Hour Call podcast.

Captioned and Audio Described Films

Most of Scottish Ballet’s films have captions and some of our films are available with audio description.

You can watch our short-film series The Shimmering Extraordinary on our website, and our award-winning feature length films The Secret Theatre and Starstruck on Marquee TV.

We aim to offer audio description for all films in future.

Relaxed Performances

We offer relaxed performances on our winter tour for anyone who would benefit from a more informal setting.

This type of performance is designed to make the theatre more welcoming to people who may find the environment overwhelming. This may include audience members who are neurodivergent, have a learning disability, dementia, anxiety, Tourette’s, bowel and bladder conditions or would like to attend with their babies.

We hope to be able to increase the number of relaxed performances available over the next few years.

Some things to know:

• Friendly staff will be on hand to support audiences/people before, during and after the performance
• Auditorium doors open 45 minutes before the start, so there’s lots of time to settle in, and are left open during the show
• Everyone is free to make noise and move around the auditorium
• Seats are sold with spaces between groups
• The house lights will remain at half, so the audience isn’t in the dark
• There will be no strobe lighting or sudden, loud noises
• There will be breakout spaces with a live stream of the show so that if you feel the need to leave the auditorium you won’t miss the action
• Wheelchair spaces are available, and staff are on hand to help if you want to transfer to a theatre seat

Accessible Classes

We offer a range of dance classes, both online and in-studio, including those for people with neurological conditions.

We aim to provide classes which are accessible to all. Please do not hesitate to get in touch to chat with us about your access requirements.

We also have a range of on demand resources to get you moving in your own time, all of which are captioned. In particular, our beside ballet programme SB Duet has a selection of captioned and BSL interpreted video classes and audio recordings you can follow along with.