The Thing About Assisted Performance
Assisted performances are designed to help people with a disability who wish to attend and watch shows in both the theatre and cinema. It is also possible to buy films with AD (audio description) on DVD.
Assisted performances are designed primarily for people with sight difficulties. Although this article will mainly concentrate on the theatre side of things, it is worth remembering that over three hundred films are now available with AD on DVD. The way in which AD works is fairly simple: when you enter the theatre, you will be given a headset. This will allow you to hear the commentary without everyone in the audience having to listen to it as well. Through the headset, you will be able to hear an accurate rundown of events as they unfold on stage. Don’t worry about the AD interfering with the rest of the play, you will only hear the descriptive track when something like a chase scene is happening. AD will also inform you of the actors’ facial expressions and body language. As soon as the person in the seat next to you sees something, you’ll hear about it. The person doing the describing will have watched that particular performance on three or more occasions, so there’s no problems with the AD being badly timed. The main difference between audio description in the cinema and on stage is that in a theatre someone is actually giving you the information in real time, where as in the cinema it’s just a pre- recorded voice. This means that a cinema can usually stage more showings with AD per night than a theatre. After all, the cinema only has to play the track again. Despite this my personal opinion is that real time theatre AD is better. I have found that sometimes in the cinema or on TV the AD is either confusing or badly edited into the programme. For example, you may be listening to some on-screen dialog and the AD would interrupt. This does not happen often but as I have never heard it in a theatre I’d have to say their method is better. Also if a theatre advertises a show with AD, in my experience you can be pretty sure the AD will happen on the day; with the cinema this isn’t always so clear cut.
As someone who is totally blind, I can say that although AD is designed to target people with sight difficulties, it benefits everyone. Before I became aware that AD existed I had to rely on either friends or family if I wanted to watch a show. This meant that someone had to tell me what was happening for however long the show lasted. Needless to say this isn’t an ideal arrangement and my invites to the cinema or theatre were getting few and far between. AD also means that I can go to watch a show on my own; so as well as making sure that someone with sight difficulties can enjoy the theatre, it will also help boost their independence. What’s even better than that, is that AD is free!
The first time I saw a play with AD was with my school as part of my GCSE drama course. I had seen AD in the cinema but had no idea what to expect in a theatre. To be honest, I had my doubts that it could even work. After all, the timing would have to be spot on as it would be dealing with live actors in a real time situation. The play in question was Blood Brothers the musical and on the day I loved it. Both the plot and cast were great, but an added bonus was the quality of the AD. The timing was exact and I found myself able to appreciate aspects of the story I would otherwise have missed, such as the judge’s reaction to Mrs Johnstone in court. Since then, I have seen several other shows all with AD and enjoyed them all. Sometimes the AD is accompanied by a touch tour. This lets you see some of the props and sets that make up the way the play looks. In this way you can gather a greater understanding of how events look on stage, because you will have felt like you have walked around the sets and know exactly what is happening and where. These tours do not automatically come with an assisted performance so you’d have to check beforehand. Also available are audio described programs. You listen to these through the headset before the performance. They contain details of the plot as well as interviews with the main members of the cast.
The number of shows that come with AD is continually growing, with around a hundred theatres providing the service throughout the country. Most of these theatres try to have at least one showing with AD per play run, so as with the tours you would want to check before you turn up.
Take a look at our Assisted Performances information for details on dates and times of scheduled assisted performances for West End shows this season.
Published by: Harry Luckhurst
