VISUALLY IMPAIRED IN CAMDEN
C/o Somers Town Community Centre
150 Ossulston Street, NW1 1EE
Tel: 07980 328 959
Email: [email protected]
Newsletter – May 2015
Contents
1. Future Members’ events.
2. Steering Committee Membership 2015-16.
3. Launch of Camden Disability Action – 27 May.
4. Camden Real Friendly group – 27 May.
5. Visual impairment workers face crisis despite Care Act’s emphasis on their role.
6. Spotlight on: The International Glaucoma Association.
7. Mum who spent 30 years thinking she was going insane was actually going blind.
8. Museum of the Year 2015 Short List with Audio Description announced.
9. Joseph Pulitzer, newspaper editor and publisher.
10. May’s quick quiz.
And finally… Blind Quotes
1. Future Members’ events
19 May – Alan Benson, Transport for All (TfA) Member and activist will be the main
speaker at this event. TfA provides information and advice for disabled transport
users in London and champions the rights of disabled and older people to travel with
freedom and independence in the capital.
Just some of the issues that Members already have identified to raise are (i) the
problems created when bus stops are closed and the lack of temporary bus stops;
(ii) so-called ‘island’ bus stops; (iii) making all quiet vehicles safe (bringing in silent
buses as well) through the fitting of an artificial sound generator; and (iv) street
clutter & other obstructions and overhanging obstacles.
This event will be held at Swiss Cottage Community Centre, 19 Winchester Road,
NW3 3NR, from 2pm to 4pm.
16 June – Exploring Camden on foot
Peter Twist, who specialises in guided walks for blind and partially sighted people,
and several of his colleagues from the Camden Tour Guides Association, will be
hosting this guided walk of a section of The Regent’s Canal, starting and finishing at
Granary Square, the magnificent new square at the historic heart of King’s Cross.
Meet at 2pm, Granary Square, N1C 4AA.
We shall be learning something of the history of our area and the transformation
brought about by the arrival of the canal quickly followed by the growth of the
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railways. Dumbfounding everyone who witnessed the decline of the area, this
transformation is continuing with the re-development of the King's Cross
neighbourhood and Regents Canal into a vibrant new city quarter.
Come along to be transported back in time and propelled into the future by
experiencing the fusion of the old and the new in what is becoming London's most
exciting new destination.
To aid planning it would be helpful to let Rosemary know if you will be going on this
walk, Tel: 07980 328 959. Thank you.
21 July – This will be an outing to the Caldwell Lavender Farm in Hitchin, Herts.
The coach will leave from Swiss Cottage Community Centre, 19 Winchester Road,
NW3 3NR at 10am and will arrive back at the community centre at around 6.30pm.
The cost will be £10.00 with one companion at the same rate; this includes the coach
and entry to & a guided tour of Caldwell Lavender Farm.
2. Steering Committee Membership 2015-16
The Annual General Meeting held on 21 April 2015 elected the following officers and
members to the Steering Committee for the year 2015-16:
Chairperson:
Glen Coull
Vice-Chairperson: Mary Hynes
Treasurer:
Mark Pampel
Members:
Klara Clements
Jasmine Nickson
Benedicta Tumwesigye
Linda Willmott was once again co-opted to the Steering Committee.
There are still a couple of places available on the Steering Committee so if any
member would like to come along to observe a meeting and check out whether
membership of the committee is something you might be interested in please call
Rosemary on 07980 328 959. Steering Committee meetings are held on the first
Tuesday of the month at the Charlie Ratchford Centre, Belmont Street, NW1 8HF,
from 2pm to 4pm.
3. Launch of Camden Disability Action – 27 May
Camden Disability Action will be launched on 27 May.
Since DISC closed there has been a desperate need for a new user-led disability
organisation to represent deaf and disabled people in Camden, Camden Disability
Action (CDA) will be that organisation and the launch will be an opportunity to find
out all about it.
The launch details are as follows:
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Date:
Time:
Venue:
Wednesday 27 May
5.30pm – 7.30pm
Small Hall
The Camden Centre
Camden Town Hall
Judd Street, WC1H 9JE
Agenda:
 Why is CDA needed and what will its role be?
 Progress made so far to charitable status and what becoming a member will
mean
 All your questions answered
 Becoming a member.
If you cannot attend this meeting, do not worry. There will an opportunity to attend
further meetings later in the year.
If you do wish to attend, you MUST contact Ricky or Monica at Voluntary Action
Camden (VAC)* to register: call 020 7284 6553 or email [email protected].
The meeting will be fully accessible, but please let Ricky or Monica know your
access requirements when you register.
(*VAC is helping to organise this event of behalf of CDA.)
4. Camden Real Friendly group 27 May
VIC’s very own Mark Pampel will be running a music workshop at the Camden Real
Friendly group’s next meeting on Wednesday 27 May, at Swiss Cottage Community
Centre, from 11am to 1pm.
Mark says: “The workshop will be highly participative, with fun and games on the
way to creating music. The term musical instrument will be very loosely defined –
anything that makes a sound!”
As regular readers will know Mark, who is both deaf and blind, is a pianist,
composer, an improviser and a communicator who, among many other accolades,
has had his work premiered as part of the London Cultural Olympiad in 2012 and
has played with the LSO at the Barbican.
5. Visual impairment workers face crisis despite Care Act’s emphasis on their
role
Visual impairment officers have a critical role to play in helping councils meet their
Care Act duties but their numbers are being cut, says Simon Labbett, chair,
Rehabilitation Workers Professional Network.
In December 2013, The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)
re-issued its Position statement on visual impairment rehabilitation in the context of
personalisation. At the time one wonders how much attention was paid to it or its key
assertions that, “unlike generic reablement programmes, visual impairment
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rehabilitation is a specific intervention”, and that such interventions “cannot
necessarily reach a successful conclusion within a six-week timeframe”.
Now the 2014 Care Act validates this approach in full in its statutory guidance. Not
only is the ADASS guidance cited directly in section 22 of the guidance, but
paragraph 2.61 of the guidance, on prevention, also reiterates the specialist nature
of visual impairment rehabilitation and the time-limited, but not time prescribed,
approach to intervention.
The ADASS guidance, tellingly, adds: “Local authorities should consider securing
specialist qualified rehabilitation and assessment provision… Certain aspects of
independence training with blind and partially sighted people require careful risk
management and should only be undertaken by a fully qualified Visual Impairment
Rehabilitation Officer (ROVI).
Low numbers of rehab officers
Given the high incidence of visual and hearing loss among the older population and
the learning disabled population – people with learning disabilities are 10 times more
likely to have serious sight problems than other people – and the unquestionably
disabling nature of blindness and deafblindness, you might wonder how many
rehabilitation officers there are in your local authority to meet demand… The average
number is three.
According to a Freedom of Information Act request by the RNIB this year, there are
some forty local authorities that have at most one solitary worker (or less). But how
many should there be? A benchmarking exercise by the Welsh Local Government
Association in 2006 recommended a good practice ratio of one full-time equivalent
ROVI to every 50,000 of the population. The population of most London boroughs,
some of which only employ one ROVI, is about 200,000.
Now consider that the referral rates for someone being identified as blind or partially
sighted in that same local authority will be around 200 per year. Around 120 of these
will be formally registered via the statutory Certificate of Vision Impairment (CVI).
Again, the Care Act guidance is clear (22.16) that “upon receipt of the CVI the local
authority should make contact with the person within two weeks” to arrange their
inclusion on the council’s register of sight-impaired people. Where there is
appearance of need for care and support, the council “must arrange an assessment
of their needs in a timely manner”.
Phone or non-specialist assessments no solution
How can a solitary worker (or even two) assess and manage a programme of
rehabilitation for a workload of this size and with clients trying to rebuild their lives
after losing their sight? Screening assessments by phone is seen as a solution. It
would be a brave service manager who felt it appropriate to assess someone who is
going blind or blind and deaf over the phone or by using someone who is not trained
in specialist solutions.
To complicate service provision further, vision and hearing loss are frequently
encountered in people with poor cognitive function. Assessing and providing
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independence skills in these settings requires specific communication skills and a
clear understanding of risk and safeguarding.
I would suggest there is a workforce crisis of service-threatening proportions. Visual
and dual sensory impairment specialists have seen their skills marginalised. This is
partly because of a poor understanding of how blindness affects physical function
and wellbeing and partly because sensory teams have been lost in favour of
reablement teams, where some managers may feel inclined to skill-up generic
workers on inadequately short courses.
Short-term approach
Very few social service departments are supporting home-grown workers in their
teams to train to be ROVIs. Poaching workers from neighbouring authorities may
have worked in the past but there are not enough specialists out there to make this
practical any more. This short-term approach seems bizarre when the initial training
costs will be more than recouped though the savings these workers make through
falls reductions, smaller care packages and lower costs attributable to depression
and social isolation.
One final thought on the Care Act that service users may want to use to encourage
local authorities to plan ahead is section 2.37 “Local authorities should put in place
arrangements to identify and target those individuals who may benefit from particular
types of preventative support”.
6. Spotlight on: The International Glaucoma Association
The International Glaucoma Association (IGA) is the charity for people with
glaucoma, an eye condition that may lead to loss of sight. The IGA’s mission is to
raise awareness of glaucoma, promote research related to early diagnosis and
treatment, and to provide support to patients and all those who care for them.
To achieve this, the IGA:
 Provides information, advice and support through its telephone Sightline
service and internet forum for patients and others with specific concerns
 Publishes and distributes in print and via the IGA website a wide range of
booklets* and leaflets aimed at patients, carers and professionals
 Distributes regular newsletters to its members covering various issues related
to the care of people with glaucoma
 Funds a range of research projects to advance the knowledge of the causes
of glaucoma and to develop more effective methods of diagnosis and
treatment
 Organises patient support groups and organises meetings for patients where
members can hear from experts in glaucoma and share their experiences
 Campaigns for improved quality of care and services at local and national
levels
 Organises an annual National Glaucoma Awareness Week (in 2015, from 8
to 14 June)
 Works with other organisations worldwide.
IGA origins
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The IGA was formed over 40 years ago at King’s College Hospital in London.
At that time, doctors at King’s were keen to improve patient care and find out more
about the practical issues associated with living with glaucoma.
Exploratory meetings with patients revealed that they too were eager to have a
means of keeping in informal contact with eye specialists and fellow patients. Many
people were also motivated to find a way to improve the limited resources available
for treatment and to encourage research into glaucoma.
At one of these meetings in 1974, the Glaucoma Association was officially formed.
Building on King’s College Hospital’s well-established contact with similar centres
abroad, the organisation was soon renamed the International Glaucoma Association.
In 1978 the IGA became a Representative Member of the International Agency for
the Prevention of Blindness.
In 1996 the IGA moved from the King’s College Hospital site to its current location in
Ashford, Kent.
For help and advice contact
Sightline
Phone: 01233 64 81 70
Email: [email protected]
Mon – Fri 9.30am to 5.00pm.
The IGA operates an answerphone service after office hours, where you can leave a
message and someone will contact you back.
*For example:
Cataracts – A Guide
Dry Eye Syndrome – A Guide
Eye Drops and Dispensing Aids – A Guide
Ocular Hypertension – A Guide
International Glaucoma Association
Woodcote House, 15 Highpoint Business Village, Henwood, Ashford, Kent TN24
8DH
Tel: 01233 64 81 64
Email: [email protected]
Next issue: About RP Fighting Blindness.
7. Mum who spent 30 years thinking she was going insane was actually going
blind
Ruth Hollingshead suffered hallucinations for years at a time before being
diagnosed with Charles Bonnet Syndrome.
By PA Real Life Features
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A mother who has been haunted by hallucinations for more than 30 years has told
how she thought she was going insane – when she was actually going blind.
Ruth Hollingshead, 41, suffers from a bizarre medical condition which has led to her
imagining cars, cobwebs and even an intruder looming over her baby’s cot. She has
jumped into bushes to avoid vehicles smashing into her – only to subsequently
realise they were a figment of her imagination. She has also had conversations with
lamp posts in the street.
Miss Hollingshead, from the Isle of Wight, suffers from Charles Bonnet Syndrome in
which loss of sight causes the vivid visions which appear out of the blue and last for
several hours. Usually hallucinations last only a year, but Mrs Hollingshead has had
them for more than 30 years.
‘Doubted my sanity’
The mother of two said: “I didn’t want to say anything to anybody about the
hallucinations. I doubted my own sanity.
“When I was young I realised I would see things other people couldn’t.
“I’ve jumped into bushes because I’ve seen a car coming straight at me, only for it to
vanish into thin air.
“I’ve started conversations with lamp posts in the street, thinking they were people.
“The scariest time was when I went into my baby’s room and saw an intruder stood
over her cot. I froze and thought someone was stealing my baby.”
The former receptionist has suffered from the hallucinations since she was aged
eight.
Miss Hollingshead said: “As a kid I’d often see things in my peripheral vision –
spiders, branches, even figures.
“Doctors thought it was just attention seeking.”
Her sight started to deteriorate aged 10 and two years later she was diagnosed with
rare condition cone dystrophy.
She said: “It meant I would gradually lose my central and colour vision. I’d eventually
go completely blind.
“But still, nobody connected it to my hallucinations, so I suffered in silence.”
‘Knew something wasn’t right’
But living with the visions was difficult.
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She said: “There were times when I’d be walking along the street and I’d leap out of
the way because I’d seen a dog or person in my path.
“I felt under attack but when the vision faded, I’d realise it was a stray plastic bag on
the floor.”
Miss Hollingshead went back and forth to doctors but it was not clear why she was
seeing hallucinations.
When she had her daughter Erica, now 17, she was still keeping the visions to
herself.
She said: “When Erica was two months old I crept into her room at night and saw a
dark figure hovering over the cot.
“Too terrified to scream, for a split second I stood still, frozen.
“But then I flicked on the light and knew what I’d seen. There was nothing there.
“Seeing the spectre near Erica had freaked me out, so I told my ex-husband.
“I didn’t mention all the other times and he reassured me it must have been a trick of
the light.
“But I knew something wasn’t right.”
After researching her symptoms online, Miss Hollingshead discovered Charles
Bonnet syndrome. She took the information to her ophthalmologist who confirmed it.
No cure
Miss Hollingshead said: “He explained it was like phantom limb syndrome, where
people who’ve had a limb amputated feel a sensation where it used to be.
“My brain is overcompensating for fading vision so you see things that aren’t really
there.
“Even though there isn’t a cure, I had an answer and my sanity.”
Miss Hollingshead and her husband separated in 2005 and the condition has made it
hard to meet someone new.
“My central vision is now so bad I can’t look someone straight on, as everything is
indistinguishable and blurred, making me seem painfully shy, when I’m really not.
“I’ve only got 5% colour vision.”
She has started using a cane to assist her day to day. But she insists her sight does
not hold her back. Miss Hollingshead, who volunteers for the Isle of Wight Society for
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the Blind, said: “I keep fit by swimming, but I do sometimes see a woman in a black
swimming costume beside me.”
Her children Erica and Fletcher, 15, both see the funny side when their mother chats
to lamp posts or jumps into bushes to escape cars.
She said: “You have to keep your sense of humour.
“I’m just happy to see my kids growing up before my sight disappears.”
The Royal National Institute for the Blind said: “There is currently no medical cure for
Charles Bonnet Syndrome.
“When you experience CBS, the most effective form of treatment can come from
knowing that the condition is not a mental health problem or a symptom of another
disease but is due to sight loss.
“Knowing that CBS usually improves with time, even if it doesn't go away completely,
might also help you cope with the hallucinations.
“Having information on CBS and sharing your experiences with friends or family can
also help.”
8. Museum of the Year 2015 Short List with Audio Description announced
For a second year the Art Fund and VocalEyes will be working together again to
create audio described introductions for each of the six finalist museums for the
Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015. VocalEyes will also be training
volunteers and Front of House Staff on how to welcome and guide blind and partially
sighted visitors to their venues.
The six museums shortlisted for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015
were announced on Friday 24 April 2015 during The BBC Radio 2 Arts Show with
Claudia Winkleman.
They are:
Dunham Massey (National Trust), Altrincham
IWM London
The MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre), Belfast
Oxford University Natural History Museum
HM Tower of London (Historic Royal Palaces)
The Whitworth, Manchester.
The audio described introductions to each will be available on both the Art Fund
(artfund.org/prize) and VocalEyes’s (vocaleyes.co.uk) websites from 18 May 2015.
The introductions provide a useful guide to each of the finalist museums, highlighting
their 2014 achievements as well as providing detailed descriptions of distinctive
architecture and features of each, and enhancing overall engagement with the arts
for blind and partially sighted listeners.
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Onsite at the museums, VocalEyes, will train volunteers and Front of House Staff on
how to welcome and guide blind and partially sighted visitors. VocalEyes will also
work with each of the venues to share the facilities, events and interpretation to
ensure that the venues connect with their audience.
The Museum of the Year annually surveys museums and galleries across the UK,
awarding one outstanding winner a prize of £100,000. Previous winners have been
diverse in scale - from the British Museum (2011) to Walthamstow's William Morris
Gallery (2013). Last year's winner was the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, an outdoor
museum cited for its "perfect fusion of art and landscape" and its major projects with
artists such as Yinka Shonibare MBE and Ai Weiwei.
The announcement of the 2015 winner will be made at an awards dinner at Tate
Modern on Wednesday 1 July 2015.
The members of the Museum of the Year 2015 Jury are:
Stephen Deuchar (chair), director of the Art Fund
Michael Landy, artist
Alice Rawsthorn, design critic and author
Fiammetta Rocco, books and arts editor of The Economist
Axel Rüger, director of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
In a new partnership with the BBC, the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015
will be celebrated on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and BBC News Online, in a series
of broadcasts and online interactive presentations during the period leading up to the
announcement of the winner, enabling a widespread national debate about the value
of the UK's museums.
Continuing our occasional series on famous blind people
9. Joseph Pulitzer, newspaper editor and publisher
The namesake of one of the world’s most coveted honours was also legally blind.
Joseph Pulitzer, of whom the esteemed Pulitzer Prize for journalism, music and
literature is named, was born in Mako, Hungary in 1847 and emigrated to the United
States in 1864, where he began his reporting career. Pulitzer soon segued into
politics, winning a state legislature seat in Missouri. He was known for his hard
stance against corruption and illegal gain.
In 1872, he bought the St. Louis Post and later the St. Louis Despatch, which he
combined with the Post. Pulitzer used his political clout and investigative reporting
skills to expose illegal lotteries, gambling rings and tax dodgers. In 1883, he bought
the New York World and worked to expose the seedy underbelly of public
government waste and fraud.
During these acquisitions, Pulitzer’s eyes were failing him and he was completely
blind by 1889. However, he never turned a blind eye to social crimes and continued
to be a watch-dog for injustice. Pulitzer died in 1911 and left behind more than $2
million to establish a school of journalism at New York’s Colombia University. In his
honour, the Pulitzer prizes – which are considered the top national honour for music,
literature and journalism – are awarded every year.
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10. May’s quick quiz
Q.1. Who wrote: “Bring me my bow of burning gold: bring me my arrows of
desire...”?
Q.2. Which king of England put his seal to the Magna Carta in 1215AD?
Q.3. What is the common name of the sub species Ursus arctos horribilis?
Q.4. What were ‘The Beatles’ called before they were called ‘The Beatles’?
Q.5. Who was the first monarch to use Buckingham Palace as the official residence?
Q.6. Which Poet laureate was Sylvia Plath married to?
Q.7. Who fired the arrow that struck Achilles in his heel?
Q.8. Which animal forms the legs of a griffin?
Q.9. What is a nautical mile per hour usually called?
Q.10. Who’s slogan was Put a Tiger in Your Tank?
And the tie-breaker!
Q.11. Which word can go before Biscuit, Bottle and Colour to form three new terms?
The answers are given after ‘And finally…’
And finally… Blind Quotes
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
Mark Twain
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid
painted blind.
William Shakespeare
In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to
blind those who don’t.
Blaire Pascal
Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind
obedience.
Mary Wollstonecraft
The answers to May’s quick quiz are:
A.1. William Blake.
A.2. King John.
A.3. The grizzly bear also called the silvertip bear.
A.4. The Quarrymen.
A.5. Queen Victoria.
A.6. Ted Hughes.
A.7. Paris.
A.8. Lion.
A.9. Knott.
A.10. Esso.
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And the answer to the tie-breaker!
A.11. Water.
Thank you for reading the newsletter.
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VIC Newsletter Supplement: Things to see, places to go
Community Festivals in Camden
Primrose Hill Festival
Sunday, 17 May
Regent’s Park Road, NW1 and around.
Kentish Town Festival
Saturday 6 June, 1pm – 6.30pm
Taking place at Kentish Town Community Centre (17 Busby Place NW5 2SP), along
Busby Place and inside Cantelowes Gardens.
South End Green Summer Festival
Sunday 28 June, 10.30am – 5.00pm
South End Green, NW3
Galleries and Museums
Imperial War Museum (IWM) London
VocalEyes have been working with IWM London on an updated version of the
recorded audio described guide for the Lord Ashcroft Gallery and their
Extraordinary Heroes Exhibition.
This exhibition displays personal objects and artefacts belonging to those awarded
Victoria and George Crosses, revealing the people behind the medals, the stories of
their lives and their extraordinary deeds.
VocalEyes also worked on the recorded audio described guide for the recently
opened First World War Galleries. Live Audio Described Tours of the First World
War Galleries are also available upon request.
To find out more visit the Imperial War Museum's website at www.iwm.org.uk. To
pre-book a place on one of the tours, please call 020 7091 3157 or email
[email protected].
IWM London, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ
Natural History Museum: Spirit Collection
Free Audio described tours
The Natural History Museum are now offering free audio described tours of the Spirit
Collection for blind and partially sighted visitors. During the tour you will have the
chance to get up close to specimens such as lizards and a giant squid plus other
specimens collected by Charles Darwin.
With 22 million specimens, the Natural History Museum’s Spirit Collection is named
after the alcohol in which the specimens are stored, a mixture of 95 per cent ethanol
and 5 per cent methanol.
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This impressive collection includes approximately 170,000 type specimens, the
specimens by which species are first named and described.
Free audio described tours of the Spirit Collection are available for blind and partially
sighted people on request but you must book at least two weeks prior to your visit by
calling 020 7942 5000.
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD
Wellcome Collection
Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime – audio described exhibition tour
Thursday 21 May, 6pm
Explore the history, science and art of forensic medicine at Wellcome Collection by
joining this free guided tour for blind and partially sighted visitors.
The exhibition travels from crime scene to courtroom, across centuries, exploring the
specialisms of those involved in the delicate processes of collecting, analysing and
presenting medical evidence. It draws out the stories of victims, suspects and
investigators of violent crimes, and our enduring cultural fascination with death and
detection.
One of Wellcome Collection’s knowledgeable Visitor Experience Assistants will lead
you through this gallery with audio description, investigating some of the hidden
layers and secret connections in this fascinating exhibition.
You must book a place in advance. Please call 020 7611 2222 or email:
[email protected]
Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE
Theatre highlights: Audio-described performances
Oresteia
Friday 10 July – 7pm (Touch Tour: 5.30pm)
Almeida Theatre
Almeida Street, N1 1TA
Ticket price: £19 (reduced from £38)
Bookings: 020 7288 4999
Lia Williams stars in Robert Icke’s bloody, sprawling reinterpretation of Aeschlyus’
epic family drama.
Temple
Saturday 18 July – 2.30pm (Touch Tour: 1.30pm)
Donmar Warehouse
41 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LX
Ticket price: £15 (reduced from £35)
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On 15 October 2011 Occupy London makes a camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral. On
21 October 2011 a building that had been kept open through floods, the Blitz and
terrorist threats closes its doors. Steve Waters’ new play is a fictional account of
these events, set in the heart of a very British crisis – a crisis of conscience, a crisis
of authority and a crisis of faith.
Aida
Sunday 19 July - 2.00 pm (Touch Tour: 1pm)
Opera Holland Park
37 Pembroke Road, W8 6PW
Ticket price: £17 - £72 (concessions available)
Bookings: 0300 999 1000
One of the great misunderstood operas of the 19th Century, Aida is more than an
epic procession: the choruses, scale and the perception are countered by what is a
deeply intimate final dénouement. Verdi gave his masterwork Aida some of the
greatest choruses and arias of the era.
As You Like It
Saturday 8 August – 2pm (Touch Tour: 12 noon)
Shakespeare’s Globe
21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, SE1 9DT
Ticket price: £5 - £21.50 (reduced from £43)
Bookings: 020 7902 1409
As You Like It runs the glorious gamut of pastoral romance: cross-dressing and
brilliant conversation, gentle satire, forgiveness and reparation.
Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man
Saturday 8 August - 2.30 pm (Touch Tour: 1pm)
Sadler's Wells
Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN
Ticket price: £12 - £55 (50 per cent concession available)
Bookings: 0844 871 0090
Matthew Bourne's internationally acclaimed dance thriller returns. Loosely based on
Bizet's popular opera, The Car Man has an instantly recognisable and exhilarating
score. Set in 1960s America, Bourne's vivid storytelling brings the inhabitants of a
small town to life as they are driven into an unstoppable spiral of greed, lust, betrayal
and revenge.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Saturday 22 August - 2.15 pm (Touch Tour: 1.15pm)
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, NW1 4NU
Tickets: £25 (concessionary rate)
Bookings: 0844 826 4242
From the Golden Age of the movie musical, this much-loved show includes Bless
Your Beautiful Hide and the dance spectacular, Barn Dance.
The Importance of Being Ernest
Saturday 22 August – 2.30pm (Touch Tour time: TBC)
VIC Newsletter May 2015
This issue is sponsored by Earth Natural Foods, 200 Kentish Town Road, NW5
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Vaudeville Theatre
404 Strand, WC2R 0NH
Tickets: £35 (reduced from £55)
Bookings: 0844 482 9675
David Suchet will star as Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s satire on Victorian
manners.
Bakkhai
Saturday 5 September – 3pm (Touch Tour: 1.15pm)
And Friday 11 September – 8pm (Touch Tour: 6.30pm)
Almeida Theatre
Almeida Street, N1 1TA
Tickets: £19 (reduced from £38)
Bookings: 020 7288 4999
Ben Wishaw makes his Almeida debut as Dionysos in Euripides’ hedonistic, visceral
story of revenge.
Medea
Thursday 24 September – 3pm (Touch Tour: 1.1.5pm)
Almeida Theatre
Almeida Street, N1 1TA
Tickets: £19 (reduced from £38)
Bookings: 020 7288 4999
Kate Fleetwood takes on the title role in Rachel Cusk’s chilling new version of
Euripides’ tragedy. Medea’s marriage is breaking up. And so is everything else.
Testing the limits of revenge and liberty, Euripides’ seminal play cuts to the heart of
gender politics and asks what it means to be a woman and a wife.
Gypsy
Saturday 26 September – 2.30pm (Touch Tour: 12.30pm)
Savoy Theatre
Savoy Court, WC2R 0ET
Tickets: £24.50 - £90
Bookings: 0844 871 7677
One of Broadways greatest musicals, transfers to London’s West End following its
sell-out, rapturously acclaimed five-star run at Chichester Festival Theatre.
Richard II
Sunday 27 September – 1pm (Touch Tour: 11am)
21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, SE1 9DT
Ticket price: £5 - £21.50 (reduced from £43)
Bookings: 020 7902 1409
Dazzlingly eloquent and ceremonious, Richard II invests a weak and self-dramatising
man with tragic status and represents Shakespeare’s most searching exploration of
the meaning of kingship and the rising powers that can destroy it.
How to book…
To make a booking, call the number given against the individual show. Please
ensure that you tell the operator that you are booking for an audio-described
VIC Newsletter May 2015
This issue is sponsored by Earth Natural Foods, 200 Kentish Town Road, NW5
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performance, so that you qualify for any ticket discounts and are allocated an
appropriate seat.
National Theatre
Forthcoming Audio-described performances
Light Shining in Buckinghamshire
Saturday 20 June at 2.15pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.45pm.
Everyman
Saturday 27 June at 2pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.30pm
Saturday 8 August at 2pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.30pm.
The Beaux Stratagem
Saturday 4 July at 2pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.30pm
Saturday 12 September at 2pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.30pm
The Red Lion
Saturday 25 July at 3pm, with a Touch Tour at 1.30pm
Three Days in the Country
Saturday 29 August at 2.15pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.45pm
Pomona
Saturday 26 September at 3pm, with a Touch Tour at 1.30pm
Booking Tickets – National Theatre Access List
To book tickets at the Disabled concessionary rate, you will need to be subscribed to
the National Theatre’s Access List. Read more information and print off a sign-up
form online. For more information call 020 7452 3000 or email:
[email protected].
National Theatre, Upper Ground, South Bank, SE1 9PX
VIC Newsletter May 2015
This issue is sponsored by Earth Natural Foods, 200 Kentish Town Road, NW5
Page 17