Relaxed Performance – Sensory Guide
Tuesday 3 December at 7:15pm
Linbury Studio Theatre, LAMDA
Running Time: TBC
Content warnings: Themes of illness/death and child loss. Brief references to drowning, eating disorder, mental health, murder and suicide.
Relaxed Performances at LAMDA
• You are welcome to leave and re-enter from the theatre as you need.
• There is a break-out room available called The Student Common Room.
• House lighting is on low throughout, never going to full black-out.
• Loud noises are reduced.
• No strobe lighting is used.
• You are welcome to react to the show however you want.
• At the end of this document is a show synopsis and 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 entrance to the building and Linbury Theatre is the closest entrance to Baron’s Court Station.
There will be a member of staff on the door who will take your name and scan your QR code ticket.
This is the Theatre Foyer and entrance to the Linbury Theatre. You may be asked to wait here until the house is open. You will be shown how to get to the Linbury Studio Theatre by an usher.
Toilets are located next to the bar.
LAMDA staff will be wearing LAMDA branded T-Shirts or lanyards.
If you need any assistance whilst in the building, please ask them.
When you enter the theatre, an Usher will take your ticket from you.
You are welcome to sit wherever you like.
You can come and go from the space whenever you like. The house lights will stay on low throughout the show.
There is a break-out space called ‘The Common Room’ which you are welcome to use at any point during the performance.
The Common Room is accessed via a corridor that follows on from the bar and the toilets.
If you aren’t sure at any point during your visit where to go, please ask an usher, who will be happy to assist you.
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 leave and re-enter if you need to through the doors you came in through.
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.
The Lady From The Sea Company Headshots
THE STRANGER
Jaylon Bolden
DOCTOR WANGEL
Samuel Ferrer
BOLETTE
Emily Hayman
ARNHOLM
Alasdair Linn
HILDE
Natalia May
ELLIDA
Gloria Olajide
BALLESTRED
Kofi Odoom
LYNGSTRAND
James Walsh
Synopsis
Below is a brief synopsis of the play to aid in contextualizing the following sensory guide.
The Lady of the Sea by Henrik Ibsen follows Ellida, a woman haunted by a past love. Married to a doctor, she feels trapped by her memories and distant from her husband.
When the man from her past reappears, Ellida faces a choice: to stay with her family or embrace the freedom her past offers. The play explores themes of freedom, guilt, and selfidentity, prompting the audience to question the cost of emotional freedom and personal choice.
Below is a sensory guide for the performance that shows potential distressing actions in the play, split up by scenes
ACT 1
The lights will dim to begin the show.
As Ballestred talks about the inspiration behind his mermaid painting he describes a distressing story about her being trapped on the rocks.
There is the sound of a speedboat as the two men talk on stage.
Dr Wangel tells Arnholm that one of his children died whilst he was a baby.
After Ellida and Arnholm are reunited she becomes visibly distressed during their conversation.
ACT 2
During the scene change there is loud music and a lighting change
As Bolette and Hilde talk about ‘The Lady Of The Sea’ they reveal that her mother took her own life.
As Ellida and Wangel discuss the troubles in their marriage Elinda becomes visibly distressed.
Ellida then goes on to talk about her father dying when they were first seeing each other.
Wangel describes the gruesome autopsy he performed on the victim of a murder.
ACT 3
Hilde describes killing fish with a stone.
After Arnholm and Ellida finish speaking the stage goes dark. There is then a projection of waves that covers the stage.
Ellida is visibly distressed at The Stranger’s arrival.
ACT 4
Music and djembe drums accompany the scene change
As Ellida and Wangel argue they both get very angry and begin to shout. This then leads to a full family argument with lots of raised voices.
ACT 5
There is music and slowly pulsing multi-colored lights during the scene change.
The Stranger points a gun at Wangel and then Ellida puts herself between them The Stranger then points the gun at his own head. At the end of the show there is more full-stage projection of ocean waves. The show ends with a blackout.
During the end people will clap and may stand up, cheer or shout to tell the actors they did a good job.