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Noises Off Article

May contain

Published on
13th April 2022

The festival has come far, says Florence Bell, but it's still not enough

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This show may contain flashing lights or haze.

This show may contain flashing lights. Or it may not.

This show may contain flashing lights. We’ve gone to the length of printing out a sign but we can’t really be expected to go any further. Find out once you’re there?

This show may contain sandwiches or bread. All the same to us.

This show may contain something that will cause you to have a seizure, sustain a severe injury, or send you to A and E. Or it may not.

This show may contain flashing lights, or haze, or strobe, or venomous spiders, or graphic descriptions of sexual assault, or sandwiches, or clouds, or a big gravity-defying floating orb composed of unspecified substances, or some jokes, or smoking on stage, or loud noises designed to give you sensory overload, or a scene so beautiful you will think about it for the rest of your life. Hehe. We don’t know!

We are providing you with a notice/warning/sign and you can do with that what you will.

This show may contain sandwiches, or bread. It’s all the same to us. This show may contain orange juice, or traces of nuts. You are responsible for looking after yourself.

This show may not contain compassion for its audience.

x

This festival will contain BSL-interpreted, audio-described and captioned events. This is wonderful, and exciting

This festival may contain a quiet space on the Curve Mez that is surrounded by loud noises from get ins and techs, music and conversations.

This festival will not contain sensory-adapted performances, relaxed performances, or proper provisions for people with invisible disabilities. (It’s frustrating to see so much brilliant work being done in some areas and that not extended to other areas. This organisation is so clearly capable of such high levels of care and attention to detail in terms of making itself more accessible. I start to wonder whether I’m asking too much or not asking enough.)

This year’s festival has more access provisions than it ever has before, and more than what many theatres and buildings around the country that get more money from the Arts Council than NSDF offer. But it still has more progress to make, especially in terms of accessibility of design for individual shows.

We respect our participants enough to tell them what the shows at this festival may contain, but not what they will.

This festival may contain the willingness to do better – and it will never get there without us giving it a chance. But this festival does contain the ability to make advocating for yourself feel like tiring work.

-

@noffmag / [javascript protected email address]

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