Accessibility in the arts is so important and as a company, we are committed to improving access to our work and promoting an inclusive environment for our audiences.
With this in mind, we have created an Easy Read version of WILD as well as an audio description and touch tour.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit us, we had been working closely with our friend Anne Hornsby at Minds Eye to create a touch tour for WILD, with support from our partner Without Walls. We learned about the social context of visual impairment, the etiquette and the good practices in welcoming and guiding visually impaired and blind audience members; as well as a range of practical activities to reflect on the importance of language. We have now finished creating a covid-safe touch tour for WILD, which will be launched in September at Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF), visit their website to find out how you can book a place. You can read more about our training here.
As we have been coming out of lockdown, we’ve had Anne back in with us to create an audio description for our show WILD, which we launched a few weeks ago at Merchant City Festival in Glasgow.
To accompany the audio description for WILD, there is an introduction to the show, which describes the set design, characters and story and includes an introduction to Motionhouse.
More recently, we have had our friend Nicola Richards in to teach us some phrases in British Sign Language (BSL) for WILD. There is a section in the show where the performers speak to the audience and we wanted to be able to communicate what the show is trying to say at that point so that we can reach the widest audience possible. The BSL is now included in every performance of WILD!
Watch our video diary about the BSL workshop below…