Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

Happy new year! Hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas holiday! 🙂

This week I’d like to talk about relaxed performances in the theatre and how they can be beneficial to autists.

So what exactly is a relaxed performance?

A relaxed performance is pretty self explanatory- it is a performance in the theatre where the normal rules and etiquette are “relaxed” and the ambiance is adjusted to be more sensory friendly for the audience. Oftentimes the theatre can overwhelm the senses with loud music, strobe lighting and sudden noises (I jumped so high when a prop gun went off during Phantom of the Opera!), which can make it problematic for autists.

But how is it tailored?

Different theatres will offer different experiences, but in general, a relaxed performance focuses on sensory elements such as removing strobe lighting, turning down the stage volume, and brighter house lights. The normal rules of the theatre are relaxed, meaning that the doors are not locked, you can get up and move around if you are getting overwhelmed, and many theatres even provide a designated, quiet chill out space.

As an avid lover of musical theatre, I was naturally eager to attend one, and was delighted to see that the Watergate theatre in nearby Kilkenny was putting on a relaxed performance for their pantomime performance of Aladdin. The theatre had a very detailed plan on their website for the performance to make the show inclusive for all:

• The auditorium doors were opened 45 minutes ahead of the performance (way earlier than a standard show) to allow the audience extra time to come in and settle down and familiarize themselves with the room
• Strobe lighting and loud/sudden sound effects were removed, and the overall lighting and sound was adjusted for a more comfortable sensory experience
• The house lights remained on and low over the audience, who were free to move around as needed
• Sensory tools and service dogs were also welcome
• They even provided a detailed preparation journey document outlining the theatre facilities, with multiple pictures to help orient visitors with the theatre to fully prepare an autist for their theatrical experience

So what did I make of it?

For me personally as a high functioning, seasoned theatre goer, it was a bit of a mixed bag. In theory, the concept is amazing, but in practice it’s a lot more difficult. The lighting and sound adjustments were great, the experience was far more relaxed without the likelihood of jumping out of my seat unexpectedly, buuuuutttt these adjustments created another sensory quandary.

So the theatre has it’s rules and etiquette for a reason- to allow everyone to hear the performance un-distracted. But, without these rules, the audience is naturally much louder than a regular performance… In a room full of uninhibited, talkative/echolalic, snacking neurodivergents with lowered stage sounds, the performance becomes difficult to hear. I often missed jokes and lines due to the sound adjustments- and this was with me sitting in the front row beside a speaker. This created a greater sensory issue for me as I was surrounded by distracting noises everywhere, with constant chatter and rustling of snacks. While this was primarily irritating for me, a more sensitive autist could have had a meltdown in this scenario. As the stage sounds were reduced, normal sound reducing earpieces would not have improved the situation.

Granted, in my experience, audiences that have large numbers of children in attendance are much louder, but the stage volumes usually counteract the increased noise threshold. As such if sound is your primary sensory sensitivity, you would be better off attending a regular performance with ear defenders or noise reducing earplugs (I highly recommend these- I tested them out at Rocky Horror Picture Show and I lost no sound quality with the volume reduction).

All in all, while the concept of a relaxed performance is good in theory, it may not be suitable for all autists.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 😀

Have a lovely weekend!

Aoife