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The National Galleries have installed a new audio guide with special provision for the Visually Impaired for their current exhibition Impressionism & Scotland.
Tracey Emin for the Visually Impaired.
Gerhard Richter for the Visually Impaired.
Summer programme.Museums page.
can make arrangements for the Visually Impaired.
There is often a Touch Tour available before an audio-described performance, when users of the service can explore the stage sets and handle costumes and props. Members of the production team are on hand to give insights into the production process. Many sighted patrons would love to have this opportunity. Don't forget to ask when you book whether there is a Touch Tour available. Often it is not possible to advertise these Touch Tours in advance in this Diary because the theatres don't know till the touring company arrives whether they can accommodate a Touch Tour. So ask when you book, or at the beginning of the performance week.
His Majesty's returns to the newly refurbished Theatre with an extensive programme of audio description:
Hello Dolly!;
Flashdance;
Sunset Song;
An Ideal Husband;
Absurd Person Singular;
La traviata;
Peter Pan;
The Sleeping Beauty;
Cosė fan tutte.
No audio descriptions notified.
Who or what are Birds of Paradise?
Here is an excerpt from their brochure:
BIRDS OF PARADISE is a professional touring theatre company, which produces adventurous and challenging work that places disability in the public arena. The Company has toured throughout Scotland for 12 years with inventive programmes of performances and workshops, both for traditional theatre-going audiences and people who have difficulty experiencing theatre due to disability or geographical isolation.
Click on this link to visit their web site.
2008 season finished.
No audio descriptions notified.
Please note Audio descriptions begin with a prologue ten minutes before curtain up.
Mother Courage an her children;
Something Wicked This Way Comes;
Beauty and the Beast.
No audio descriptions notified.
The Two Widows;
Carousel;
The Secret Marriage;
La traviata;
Cosė fan tutte;
Manon.
Sunset Song
Absurd Person Singular;
Calendar Girls;
Horrid Henry;
All Quiet on the Western Front;
Wuthering Heights;
An Ideal Husband;
Aladdin 2008-2009.
Finished till 2008 season.
Finished till 2009 season.
365.
Macbeth;
Something Wicked This Way Comes;
Mary Rose;
The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe;
The Man Who Had All the Luck;
The Mystery of Irma Vep;
Curse of the Starving Class;
Copenhagen.
No audio descriptions notified.
Fall.
Offshore;
Don Juan;
The Caretaker;
The Wizard of Oz.
No audio descriptions notified.
The Two Widows;
The Secret Marriage;
West Side Story;
The Sleeping Beauty;
La traviata;
Cosė fan tutte;
Manon.
Something Wicked This Way Comes.
No audio descriptions notified.
Something Wicked This Way Comes;
La traviata;
The Sleeping Beauty;
Cosė fan tutte.
No audio descriptions notified.
No audio descriptions notified.
Something Wicked This Way Comes at Dundee Rep;
Something Wicked This Way Comes at Inverness Eden Court;
Something Wicked This Way Comes at Edinburgh Royal Lyceum;
Something Wicked This Way Comes at Glasgow Tramway.
No audio descriptions notified.
Please note Audio descriptions begin with a prologue ten minutes before curtain up.
Perth Theatre arrange an Audio Bus to pick up locally and from the Bus and Train Stations, for a £1 donation.
TOUCH TOUR (must be pre-booked)
Touch Tours are available on all shows; please let Box Office know if
you would like a tour of the set, props and costumes. Tours are
organised to run on the same days as the Audio Described performances
and will commence at approximately 6.00pm on Thursday and 1.00pm on Saturday.
The Audio Bus runs on both of these days and arrangement for collection
before the Touch Tours can be organised.
Please contact Box Office on 01738 621031 to book your tickets. Contact Jen Hoy, Asst. Front of House Manager on 01738 472700 to book a seat on the Audio Bus, Touch Tour or for more information.
The Pitlochry Festival Theatre season for 2008 runs from 23 June to mid October.
There are no set dates for audio description at Pitlochry: they just do it on demand subject to availability! Audio Description is available for any play performance for people with visual impairments. Just phone the Box Office on 01796 484626 and the staff will check for availability. Please try and give at least 2 days notice prior to the performance.
Arcadia;
Habeas Corpus;
Heartbreak House;
Outlying Islands;
She Stoops To Conquer;
Wild Honey.
No audio descriptions notified.
The Sleeping Beauty - Glasgow Theatre Royal, His Majesty's Theatre Aberdeen, Eden Court Theatre, Inverness.
The Two Widows - Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Glasgow Theatre Royal;
The Secret Marriage - Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Glasgow Theatre Royal;
La traviata - Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Glasgow Theatre Royal, His Majesty's Theatre
Aberdeen, Eden Court Theatre, Inverness;
Cosė fan tutte - Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Glasgow Theatre Royal, His Majesty's Theatre
Aberdeen, Eden Court Theatre, Inverness;
Manon - Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Glasgow Theatre Royal.
For some years now Scottish Opera, with the support of Playback, Glasgow, has been producing pre-performance tapes for visually impaired users of the audio-description service. This is a wonderful service, unique to Scottish Opera. Each tape contains a synopsis of the action of the opera, a description of the stage sets and the costumes worn by the cast, a very informative talk by a senior member of the Music Department, about points to listen for in the music, and an interview with the producer.
Some users of the service may not know about these tapes, which are sent out free by Scottish Opera for audio-described performances in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness
Order your tape when you book your seat and headset. These tapes are only available to the visually impaired.
No audio descriptions notified.
Friday 5 - Thursday 11 September:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (12A).
Friday 5 - Thursday 11 September:
Get Smart (12A);
Saturday 6 - Tuesday 9, Thursday 11 September:
Mamma Mia! (PG);
Saturday 6, Sunday 7 September:
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (PG).
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema.
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema.
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema.
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema.
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema.
Friday 5 - Thursday 11 September:
Wall-e (U).
Friday 5 - Thursday 11 September:
The Duchess (12A).
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema.
.Friday 5 - Thursday 11 September:
Mamma Mia! (PG).
Friday 5 - Thursday 11 September:
Mamma Mia! (PG).
Friday 5 - Thursday 11 September:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (12A).
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema
Saturday 30 August only:
Charlotte's Web (U).
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema
Sunday 7, Tuesday 9 September:
Get Smart (12A).
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema
Friday 5 - Thursday 11 September:
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (PG);
Friday 5 - Tuesday 9, Thursday 11 September:
You Don't Mess With The Zohan (12A).
No audio descriptions notified; try Yourlocalcinema.
Friday 5 - Thursday 11 September:
Babylon A.D. (12A);
Get Smart (12A);
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (12A).
Friday 29 - Sunday 31 August:
Shine A Light (12A).
Friday 5 - Thursday 11 September:
Mamma Mia! (PG) Sing-along.
DVDs with audio description are available from wherever you get DVDs - Blockbuster, HMV, etc. Below is a list of films we have been made aware of by the R.N.I.B. We have not tested every one, but have been reliably informed that they have audio description. The a.d. track is just another of the eight available audio tracks on DVD. Some of these tracks are commonly used for director / cast commentaries. Pressing the 'audio' button on the DVD remote control selects the available audio tracks.
A full list of over 200 audio described DVDs on this website:
Some DVDs are available in different versions. If you have a REGION FREE DVD player you may be able to play some U.S. (region one) versions of Miami Vice (2006), Inside Man, United 93, Road to Perdition, The Grinch, Terminator 2 and Basic Instinct, and some Australian (region four) versions of Dead Poets Society, Hotel Rwanda, Pulp Fiction, Road to Perdition, Santa Clause 2, Spanglish, Stage Beauty.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Some U.K. DVD versions, such as special releases, or certain 'rental' versions DON'T have the a.d. track,
so double check before you purchase or rent!
Audio description is also available on video cassettes. The original soundtrack is replaced with an audio described track. Many libraries stock them. Over seventy video titles are now available including Insomnia, Billy Elliott, Calendar Girls, Chocolat, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo, Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban, Lord of the Rings, Shipping News, The Emperor's New Groove, The Matrix, and many more.
To receive a Home Video Catalogue of all the available titles or to order a video, please contact RNIB Customer Services, or telephone 0845 702 3153 or email cservices@rnib.org.uk.
You can view titles on the RNIB site:
I have been greatly helped by Clive Miller of RNIB who produces a day by day listing for all terrestrial channels. The link to his listing, which is much more accessible than mine for the partially sighted, has been revised, as follows: TV Help Audio Description. Clive has now produced new listings of ALL the Audio described programs you can get on a SKY digibox. I strongly recommend a visit to the site.
The details are on the TV listings page.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Don't forget to check whether your area can receive Freeview before spending any money! (mine can't). Go to
the Freeview web site.
And if you can't get Freeview directly, you can get it by satellite with a Sky subscription.
Freeview films:
Films shown as audio-described on Freeview this week:
Tuesday 19th August: ITV 2 (6) 9:00pm Film: X2 (Certificate 12);
Tuesday 19th August: ITV2 Plus 1 (31) 10:00pm Film: X2 (Certificate 12);
Tuesday 19th August: ITV2 Plus 1 (31) Wednesday 12:30am Film: Wimbledon (Certificate 12);
Tuesday 19th August: Film4 (32) 9:00pm Film: In Her Shoes (Certificate 12);
Wednesday 20th August: ITV 2 (6) 9:00pm Film: Wimbledon (Certificate 12);
Wednesday 20th August: ITV2 Plus 1 (31) 10:00pm Film: Wimbledon (Certificate 12);
Wednesday 20th August: Film4 (32) 9:00pm Film: Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (Certificate 12);
Thursday 21st August: BBC ONE (1) 11:05pm Film: Ace Ventura (Certificate 12);
Saturday 23rd August: ITV 1 (3) 4:00pm Film: Goldfinger (Certificate PG);
Saturday 23rd August: ITV 1 (3) Sunday 12:40am Film: The Graduate (Certificate 15);
Saturday 23rd August: ITV 3 (10) 10:30pm Film: Bonnie and Clyde (Certificate 18);
Saturday 23rd August: Film4 (32) 9:00pm Film: In Her Shoes (Cetrificate 12);
Sunday 24th August: Five (5) 3:00pm Film: Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (Certificate PG);
Sunday 24th August: Five (5) 7:45pm Film: Vertical Limit (Certificate 12);
Sunday 24th August: Five (5) 10:00pm Film: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Certificate 18);
Sunday 24th August: ITV 2 (6) 3:30pm Film: Thunderbirds (Certificate PG);
Sunday 24th August: ITV2 Plus 1 (31) 4:30pm Film: Thunderbirds (Certificate PG);
Sunday 24th August: Film4 (32) 9:00pm Film: The Wedding Date (Certificate 12).
It remains accessible on the Internet, at http://www.insightradio-net.com/, but is also available on FM radio at 101 FM.
ABOUT INSIGHT RADIO
Insight Radio is the new name for Europe's first radio station dedicated to the blind and
partially sighted community. Programmes are broadcast via this website and for listeners in Glasgow and surrounding areas
on 101FM.
Insight Radio provides a bespoke service tailored to the blind and partially sighted listener and we welcome your comments and feedback on our programmes.
If you or someone you know is blind or partially sighted and want to get involved in radio or gain some experience in radio programme making, production, research ... get in touch with the Insight Radio team for more details. Information on how to CONTACT INSIGHT RADIO is available here.
Thanks to all the theatres and galleries who contribute information!
| Return to TOP of page Last Update of this page: 5 September 2008 |