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Relaxed Performance Pre-show Information Sleeping Beauty Thursday 2 January 2.30pm

Our Relaxed Performances are designed to create an enjoyable and relaxed atmosphere for anyone who would benefit from a more laid-back experience at the theatre.

We hope this pre-show information will help you to prepare for your visit to the Lawrence Batley Theatre and give you an idea of what to expect when you watch Sleeping Beauty.

If you have further questions, please contact:

Ruth Jones Communications & Marketing Manager ruth@thelbt.org

For ticket enquiries or changes, contact our Box Office team on 01484 430528.

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What is a Relaxed Performance? A Relaxed Performance at the Lawrence Batley Theatre is a professional theatre production adapted in various ways to make it more accessible for anyone who could benefit from a more laid back experience at the theatre.

We ask every audience member and staff member to be accepting of the fact that people with learning disabilities will express enjoyment of the show in different ways. The attitude to noise and movement is relaxed, and we ask anyone who attends to be supportive of this.

We send out this detailed pre-show information pack to help you prepare for your visit before you come to the Lawrence Batley Theatre. We have adjusted the seating plan to accommodate an extra two wheelchair spaces. There are a total of 6 wheelchair spaces and a seat for one carer available in the stalls for all Sleeping Beauty performances. Wheelchair spaces must be pre-booked via our box office at the point of booking tickets.

We also make subtle changes to sound and lighting effects if necessary, and we never have a full black-out in the auditorium. There will be no pyrotechnics during this performance.

For anyone who needs to leave the auditorium at any point during the show, this is absolutely fine. In our lower bar we have sensory equipment provided by Kirklees Libraries and this is a quiet space if you need to take some time out from the show. You can return to the show when you are ready and you are welcome to leave and return several times. Our only request is that you return to your allocated seat.

We ask audience members not to come onto the stage at any point before, during or after the performance.

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Why does the Lawrence Batley Theatre offer Relaxed Performances?

We believe everyone has the right to take part in high quality and enjoyable arts experiences.

We welcome customers with disabilities to all of our theatre shows, however, through speaking to families with children and young people with learning disabilities, we understand that people feel the barriers can often be too great. For more information online, visit https://www.thelbt.org/shows/sleeping-beauty/

How can you offer feedback?

We welcome comments and suggestions for our Relaxed Performances. Please email any feedback you have at any time to the addresses below. This feedback will help shape our future Relaxed Performances, and helps to develop other Access Performances which take place at the Lawrence Batley Theatre. We look forward to welcoming you to the LBT for our Relaxed Performance of Sleeping Beauty Ruth Jones Communications & Marketing Manager

ruth@thelbt.org

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Arriving at the theatre This is the Lawrence Batley Theatre, a theatre in Huddersfield’s Town Centre. The postcode is: HD1 2SP

Parking

There is a pay and display car park in the Market Hall multi-storey car park on Alfred Street. You can pay with coins or pay by using a mobile phone to park there. A stay of up to 3 hours will cost you £2.70. A stay of up to 5 hours will cost you £4.50. You will need to type in your registration plate. After 6.00pm the car park is £1.00 for the evening. There is free parking for Blue Badge holders just outside the LBT entrance, on Queen Street. Parking immediately outside the LBT can be very busy, so allow enough time to find your space. The accessible entrance to the theatre is through the automatic doors to the right of the building from the courtyard, taking you to the venue’s Box Office. There is step-free access via a ramp. You can also enter the building from the courtyard through the centre main doors. Again, these doors will open automatically.

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At our Box Office you can book and collect tickets for the show. Our

staff will be very happy to help you.

It is best to arrive early for the show to have enough time to collect your tickets, go to the toilet, and (if necessary) use the lift and get settled in your seat before the show starts.

LAWRENCE BATLEY THEATRE auditorium

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Eat and Drink There is a café at the LBT called the Courtyard Café-Bar located inside our main building to the right of the Box Office, where you may want to buy something to eat before the show. From 10am – 5pm, there are hot and cold drinks available, as well as snacks, soup and quiche. If it would be useful for you to visit the Lawrence Batley Theatre before the day of the show to have a look at our facilities, you would be very welcome to do this. The building is open to the public Monday to Saturday from 10am to the start of the evening show. On non-show days we close at 5.00pm. Please contact our Box Office if you would like to arrange a pre-visit on 01484 430528. The Lawrence Batley Theatre and our facilities There will be staff members and attendants available to help. They will be wearing green rosettes. On the same level as the foyer on either side of the box office you will find our ladies and gents toilets and our disabled toilet facility. There are additional toilets on Tier 1 and Tier 2, accessed from the auditorium. You do not require a Radar key to use the disabled toilet. The auditorium will open 30 minutes before the show is due to start. There may be a queue to get in. Please listen for announcements of when you can go into the auditorium.

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You can bring drinks in plastic cups into the theatre, and snacks such as sweets providing that noise disruption is kept to a minimum.

On your ticket you will find your seat number. Our stewards will help you find your seat. There might be some steps up or down to your seat.

For this show, the majority of the theatre’s seats are ‘end on’ which means that your seat looks onto the stage as in a traditional theatre. There are also 12 rows of side seats, 4 on each level of the auditorium, that do not face the stage end-on.

We have booster seats available in the stalls only which give a bit more height on the theatre seats for smaller children. If you require a booster seat please request one from a steward at least 20 minutes before the start of the show.

Our spaces for wheelchair users are in the stalls and on Tier 1. Each space also has a companion seat next to it.

If you have requested an aisle seat to transfer from your wheelchair or mobility aid we can store your mobility equipment in the foyer. Please alert our box office staff to this at the point of booking your tickets.

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During the Performance

You are welcome to leave or return to the auditorium at any time, and you can leave as many times as you would like. If you re-enter, please return to your allocated seat, requesting assistance from our stewards if required.

Before the show starts, please make sure you have turned off your mobile phone, or switched this to silent. Please don’t use your phone during the performance. Please don’t take any photos or videos during the show.

Please don’t use any flash photography at any time before, during, or after the show, when you are in the auditorium.

Sleeping Beauty stage set

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Show Information

The show is around 2 hours 20 minutes long. The first half of the show lasts for 1 hour 10 minutes. There will be one interval of 20 minutes. The second half of the show lasts for 50 minutes.

Our performance is adapted from the age-old fairy tale Sleeping Beauty into a Christmas Pantomime by writer and actor Andrew Pollard.

When you enter the auditorium, you will see some of the set on stage. More of the set will appear, and will change, throughout the performance.

During the show it is best if everyone in the audience stays as quiet as possible, so everyone can hear the actors. But because this is a Relaxed Performance, we won’t mind at all if you make some noise or move around.

During the show, there are different sound effects and live music is played. Instruments used in the performance may be quite loud, but this should build slowly. The actors will also sing songs and dance throughout the show.

If you don’t like loud noises, you can bring ear defenders or ear plugs with you. Some young people have told us this helps them enjoy the show more.

This show has seven actors, 12 young chorus members and three musicians.

You can’t go on to the stage at any time. It is very common in pantomimes for the actors to talk to the audience, involving them in the story. You are free to join in when this happens. It can be very enjoyable to shout out to the characters when they talk to the audience. But you don’t have to join if you don’t want to.

The show will begin when Fairy Falalala-la-la-la-la-la appears on stage and the lights change. The lights in the auditorium will stay on at a reduced level throughout the performance to allow you to move around if you want to.

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This is FAIRY

FALALALA-LA-LA-

LA-LA-LA

CHARACTERS Here are photos of all the main characters in SLEEPING BEAUTY

This is NANNY FANNY

This is PRINCESS

AURORA

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This is HESTER THE

JESTER

This is KING HERBERT

THE HESITANT

This is BELLADONNA BILE

If you’re a bit scared to

meet Belladonna watch the

video of actor Hayley

Russell here

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There is a 20 minute interval after Act One, at approximately 3.40pm.

You can eat and drink in the theatre.

Ice creams will be available for you to buy from doors 1 and 2 or the kiosk in the foyer.

You can also use this time to visit the toilet if you want to.

At the end of the show, our staff will help you to leave the theatre foyer

and the building.

We value all feedback for our Relaxed Performances. We would love to know what you thought about SLEEPING BEAUTY. You can contact us at any time using the contact details on page four of this information pack.

You can also use social media on the day of your visit!

Connect with us through Twitter:

@thelbt

We hope you enjoy the Relaxed Performance of SLEEPING BEAUTY

This is SEBASTIAN

PRINCE