Last week, an open letter from leading disabled artists was sent to the Culture Secretary under the name #WeShallNotBeRemoved, an organisation working together to ensure voices are heard during and after the pandemic. You can find more about this by clicking here.
Today, the collective will be using #WeShallNotBeRemoved on social media channels to share their love for the arts and to showcase their wonderful work to ensure that it remains visible and prominent and so that the UK’s recovery from the crisis is inclusive.
At the Society of London Theatre, we believe the importance of breaking down barriers and making a theatre-going experience as inclusive and enjoyable as possible. To help support the community we have a dedicated Access page where you can find upcoming access performances and a venue guide detailing access facilities. We hope this will allow you to plan ahead of your visit so that you can feel prepared (and excited!) when you arrive at your chosen show. You can also sign up for an Access Newsletter and a brochure which is available in print, Braille, and downloadable MP3 format. While we are sadly unable to produce the Access Brochure for summer 2020, a digital record of access performances will be made available in accessible formats as soon as theatres begin to reopen, so please do check back.
Along with our access page, we also want to share what it is like to experience theatre when you have a disability. Take, for example, our guest blog written by Pippa, a young theatre fan who suffers from a chronic illness. In a very detailed, compassionate, and insightful account, she shares her experience of seeing Come From Away at the Phoenix Theatre. Once the theatres reopen, we will be sure to share more experiences like Pippa’s and we hope this gives the community a sense of confidence that theatre can be an amazing experience for everyone.
Today, we stand with the #WeShallNotBeRemoved community and encourage all our fans to join in with the movement too by sharing, retweeting, and showing your support on social media. Let’s celebrate the rich and engaging talent that Disability Art brings to our industry and to our country. Let’s use our collective power to connect, support each other, be seen and heard, and above all, to create an awareness of all the amazing art we have to enjoy, thanks to our diversity and differences.