Accessible seating

The front stalls can be accessed by the side entrance to the front right-hand stalls only (highlighted in green). This is an accessible entrance for wheelchair users and so you will need to check with our Front of House staff at our main Accessible Entrance that it has already been opened. There are ramps in from the outside and then no steps up to Row K. Seats highlighted in green are most accessible if you cannot walk very far – (rows A – K, 4 seats in on each aisle)). There is no wheelchair access to the front left-hand side of the Stalls highlighted in orange, as these are only accessible by walking down the steps from the back of the stalls. Rear of the Stalls highlighted in green are accessed from the right-hand side by the Accessible Entrance, where our Accessible Lounge is located.

Seats in Row ZZ have no steps, YY has 1 more step, Z has 2 more steps etc. First three seats in from the aisles in rows YY to U are the most accessible in the middle of the rear stalls, as there are only a few steps and are close to the aisle. We can extend the arms on ZZ 1, 11, 24 & 34 – the outer arm can be swung out allowing more room.

If you wish to sit in the stalls area, we recommend the outside aisles as they have handrails, whereas the centre aisles involve increasingly more steps (as you get closer to the stage) with no handrail support.

The seats to the rear of the stalls, with low numbers, provide good access to our Accessible Lounge, and can be a good choice if an audience member requires to leave the main auditorium swiftly, or for a sensory break.

Our “side seats” are situated on the left and right of the stalls and circle. The seats are the height of bar stools with footrests, with back and arm rests. They are situated in what used to be our standing boxes, this means that space around the seats is limited (including leg room). These are ideal if you or someone you care for prefers to be away from the main bulk of the audience. There are 4 side seat boxes in stalls, front ones comprising of 5 seats and rear ones of 4 seats each. There are 4 side seat boxes in the circle, and these are all comprised of 3 seats each.

The Circle section of the auditorium is divided into the sections – the Dress Circle and the Rear Circle.

The Circle level overall is best accessed via the Accessible Lift as there are up to 45 steps (depending on which side you walk) from the Foyer to the Dress Circle via the bar.

There are no steps from the Accessible Lift to the Rear Circle (Row Q) or Empire Suite.

There are 16 steps from Row Q to J in the rear circle, 2 per row, and two more from Row J to the mid circle. The seats easiest to access are next to the side aisles, as there are handrails alongside (marked as red lines).

Also on the centre aisles, at the front and back of the rear circle, there is a wooden partition which can be used as a ‘handrail’ to steady yourself.

The seats next the Wheelchair spaces in Row Q are easier to reach and have more space to manoeuvre within.

There are handrails in the centre aisles for both the Rear and Dress (seats 13/15 and 26/29) at the end of each row; these are not continuous rails.

We have two seats in Row Q which have movable arms seats 1 and 32.

From the Mid Circle, there are then 3 steps to Row H, then 2 more steps per row to A, with a maximum of 17 steps.

To reach the boxes, 10 more steps are accessed via the fire doors at the front of the circle. There are then 17 steps down to reach the external fire exit, but this is only open for leaving the theatre, not entering it.

There are handrails at the side aisles but not in the centre aisles for both the Rear and Dress (seats 13/15 and 26/29) so it may be difficult to walk unaided further down.

There is no wheelchair access to our boxes, and to reach them there are a further 10 steps via fire doors at the front of the Dress Circle (see above for details of steps encountered to Dress Circle).

The Balcony level is our highest level and is not suitable for anyone with access requirements. There are around 84 steps to the rear of the balcony from our foyer, and lift access is limited as we can’t guarantee the service lift will be available to our audience, and in case of evacuation it will be out of use. There is an extremely steep rake, and the height above stage can prove vertiginous for some audience members. If these seats are purchased and prove inaccessible, we do not guarantee that our other seats will be available.