Relaxed Performance – Sensory Guide
Tuesday 11 June, 2:00pm
The Carne Studio Theatre, LAMDA
Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes including an interval Content warnings: Contains reference to murder, death, homophobia, drugs and alcoholism, miscarriage, the care system, homelessness, abortion, suicide, human trafficking, and relational, racial and sexual abuse. This production contains references of violence and racism targeted towards immigrants, Black men and Polish people.
Relaxed Performances at LAMDA
• You are welcome to come and go from the theatre as you need
• There is a break-out room available, the Rittner Room
• House lighting is on low throughout, never going to full black-out
• Loud noises are reduced in sound level
• No strobe lighting is used
• You are welcome to react to the show however you may need
• At the end of this document is a show synopsis/sensory guide
Here is a guide to sensory information symbols in this document:
Indicates potentially loud or sudden noises
Indicates bright or sudden lighting changes
Indicates a sad or potentially distressing scene
Indicates fighting, or use of guns/weapons
Arriving at LAMDA
When you arrive at LAMDA, the box office is to your right. You should pick up your ticket here, using your name.
Toilets are located right next to box office.
LAMDA staff will be wearing LAMDA branded T-Shirts or lanyards. If you need any assistance whilst in the building, please ask them.
This is the Theatre Foyer. You may be asked to wait here until the house is open. You will be shown how to get to the Carne Studio Theatre by an usher.
This performance will take place in the Carne Studio Theatre.
This is the entrance.
When you enter the theatre, an Usher will take your ticket from you. You are welcome to sit where you like.
You can come and go from the space wheneveryou like. The house lights will stay on low throughout the show.
If you aren’t sure at any point during your visit where to go, please ask an usher.
There is a break-out space called ‘The Rittner Room’ which you are welcome to use at any point during the performance. It can be accessed via the stairs or lift in the main entrance foyer.
Before the show begins, the actors will introduce themselves and the characters they are playing.
The lights in the theatre will dim and she show will start. You can come and go as you need through the doors you entered by.
At the end of the show the actors will come on and bow. You are welcome to clap at this point if you would like.
Home Company Headshots
Home Company Headshots
Below is a sensory guide for the performance that shows potential distressing actions in the play, split up by scenes
During most scene changes throughout the play, there is loud music. Sometimes the actors will enter the stage from behind the audience, which may startle you. There are a lot of upsetting scenes during the play. This is a piece of verbatim theatre, meaning the repetition of words in the same way as they were originally spoken. This play was created using real-life interviews, conversations and observations.
Prologue
The prologue starts with very loud music as all of the actors come into the playing space. They are all talking and loud We see snapshots of their lives, and there is tension and an argument between some of the characters.
ACT 1
Scene 1
Singing Boy is explaining why he’s in the hostel. It’s a sad scene where he explains that his mother kicked him out of the house and was physically and verbally abusive towards him.
Scene 2 No distressing action.
Scene 3
No distressing action.
Scene 4
The character of Jade is getting upset on the phone as she cannot talk to anyone about her housing benefit.
In the background of her phone call, one of the actors is beatboxing into a microphone. This gets faster and more intense until it peaks, when Jade slams the phone onto the table.
Also in this scene, we meet Eritrean Girl. She tells the Key Worker that she’s homeless as her house got burgled and the landlord didn’t help her, and that her daughter is back in her home country.
Scene 5
We meet Garden Boy. He tells his story of how he ended up in the hostel; he was looking after his baby brother after his mother had him when he was 16, which led to him having depression and anxiety. His mum wanted him to leave the house so he ended up homeless for a month or so before moving in with his girlfriend, and then to the hostel. He doesn’t feel safe at the hostel however, as there are drug dealers in the building, and someone got stabbed in the neck two months after he moved in.
Scene 6
Loud music in scene change.
Scene 7
Loud music in scene change
Asian Young Mum explains how she met her baby’s father. She then tells the audience that he used to drink a lot and that he physically assaulted her. There was a lot of domestic violence in the relationship which is why she called the police and is now in the hostel.
Scene 8
There is a rap sequence at the start of the scene. It is loud and intense. Bullet is extremely distressed, and at the end of the sequence he shouts loudly and all the other actors rush towards him on stage.
He relives the time that he was shot - someone was trying to murder him.
At the end of his song, he shouts very loudly in distress.
Scene 9
No distressing action.
Scene 10
Some of the residents run through the scene shouting loudly - the Security Guard runs after them also shouting offstage.
Scene 11
Eritrean Girl explains why she left Eritrea and how she came to England via a lorry. She was very scared being by herself and having to do the journey with a group of men that she didn’t know and feared what could have happened to her.
Scene 12
Tattoo Boy and Sharon tell the story of how one of the residents, Daniel, was stabbed and killed at the shopping centre, Westfield.
Tattoo Boy gives a speech about being English, which has a lot of racist comments in it
INTERVAL
ACT 2
There is loud music during the interval and before the show starts again.
Scene 1
All of the residents are speaking over each other which gets very loud, and some of the lines are shouted to quiet everyone down.
At the end of the song, Tattoo Boy comes in, screams and throws over the table in a state of anger.
Scene
2
Portugal is explaining that she fell pregnant with her boyfriend, but had a miscarriage due to the sexually transmitted disease that he gave her She also lost contact with his mum, who was a mother figure to her too.
Scene 3
A heavy bass music is playing underneath the scene like it’s in the next room.
Scene 4
No distressing action.
Scene 5
Loud music in the scene change and during the scene. Tattoo Boy bangs on the door to try and make them be quiet, which is also very loud.
Scene 6
Loud beating music with heavy bass in the scene change
Scene 7
No distressing action
Scene 8
Loud beating music with heavy bass in the scene change
All the residents are remembering Daniel at the memorial barbeque, which marks the anniversary of his death.