Enhancing relaxed performance: evaluating the Autism Arts Festival

Abstract

Relaxed performances' allow theatre spectators to experience a non-judgmental environment, featuring adjustments to make them more accessible to a range of audiences. The Autism Arts Festival attempted to develop the idea of relaxed performances further to create an entirely autism-friendly festival in Canterbury. The organisers developed a suite of features to make the festival more accessible, and the suite as a whole was effective at increasing the accessibility of the festival. Moreover, discussions with performers indicate that the festival, as an 'autistic space', was conducive of both a sense of community solidarity and engagement with the politics of neurodiversity.

Letting Bodies be Bodies: Exploring Relaxed Performance in the Canadian Performance Landscape

“…However, even in the context of growing recognition of the need for diversity in theatre, disability remains marginalized (e.g., Gardner, 2016;Handler, 2016;Mitchell et al, 2018). Disabled audiences, too, have not always had access to theatre; requirements of embodying theatre spaces in particularized ways have limited the participation of disabled people (Fletcher-Watson & May, 2018).…”

“…Different approaches are being piloted across the country as venues and organizations in and beyond the theatre sector attempt to meet (and hopefully exceed) accessibility standards. Approaches to enacting access include, but are not limited to, audio described performances (e.g., Naraine et al, 2018;Whitfield & Fels, 2015), live captioning, and RP (Fletcher-Watson, 2015;Fletcher-Watson & May, 2018;Kempe, 2014Kempe, , 2015Simpson, 2018).…”

“…Over the past decade or so, RP has come to the fore as one method of exploring what changes might be made to theatre spaces to better serve disabled artists and audiences (Fletcher-Watson, 2015;Fletcher-Watson & May, 2018). These performances are designed to open theatregoing experiences to a wider swath of the population by "relaxing" the "rules" around audience conduct.…”

“…RPs change the ways that theatre is delivered by permitting more movement and sound amongst audiences, adjustments to sound, lighting, and other effects, introductions to the show and to actors, provision of space outside of the main house for audience members to go to if they wish to have a break ("chill space"), and information about the venue and the show, including accessibility considerations, provided to patrons before their visit (Chandler et al, 2020;Simpson, 2018). RPs began with a focus on providing accessible cinema and live theatre experiences for people with Autism (Fletcher-Watson, 2015;Fletcher-Watson & May, 2018;Simpson, 2018) and Tourette's syndrome (Thom, 2015). 4 The scope of those to whom RPs might cater has since expanded to include a wider group of people for whom the "traditional rules of theatregoing" may be unappealing or inaccessible, including children and families, people with chronic pain, and more (Fletcher-Watson & May, 2018).…”

“…RPs began with a focus on providing accessible cinema and live theatre experiences for people with Autism (Fletcher-Watson, 2015;Fletcher-Watson & May, 2018;Simpson, 2018) and Tourette's syndrome (Thom, 2015). 4 The scope of those to whom RPs might cater has since expanded to include a wider group of people for whom the "traditional rules of theatregoing" may be unappealing or inaccessible, including children and families, people with chronic pain, and more (Fletcher-Watson & May, 2018). Increasingly, RP is being envisioned beyond being simply "for" disabled people, enacted as cultural practice by disabled people as part of disability/crip cultural creation.…”