Lung Ha Theatre Company launches groundbreaking access and creative principles toolkit
Over 40 years of experience in making theatre performances with learning disabled actors has been distilled by Edinburgh-based Lung Ha Theatre Company into the first edition of its Access and Creative Principles Toolkit. This new publication filled with insights, practical tips, and examples will support theatre, cultural and other groups and organisations to build more inclusive environments, whether in a rehearsal room, classroom, office, or community space.
The toolkit reflects Lung Ha’s long-standing commitment to raising expectations and creating meaningful opportunities for learning-disabled people and has been shaped by a dedicated research process carried out between November 2024 and March 2025. It draws on the expertise built through lived experience of Lung Ha’s ensemble and creative team, as well as input from 60 theatre-makers and organisations across Scotland and beyond. Its real-world insights, useful tools, and advice can be applied across both creative and non-creative settings.
Among many others, the toolkit covers the following topics:
• A list of prompts for people running projects to consider everything from decision making, sound and music, costumes and dress codes, use of text and sudden and loud noises.
• Planning the who, what, where, how, why? - Why the key to a well-supported project is to start planning earlier than you typically would and how to do this from access riders to adaptations.
• Operations – How to build appropriate contracts for learning-disabled adults, complexities around payment, budgetary considerations, scheduling, communications and team building and policies.
• Working together – How to build a positive culture of participation and exploration, support teams, safe spaces, a working approach and process considerations.
• On the road – What to think about when leaving your usual place of work including floor plans, tour vehicles and transport, and fire and evacuation plans.
• Practicing for the main event – How to pre-empt sources of stress and provide clarity.
• The main event – How to prepare for unexpected challenges, such as audience responses and logistics around the show and rehearsals.
• Reflecting and moving on – Why feedback matters, how to approach different formats and how to build space for it.
Artistic Director, Maria Oller said: “It has been our ambition for some time to find a way of sharing the ways in which we proudly make fabulous theatre. To raise expectations and create opportunities is at the heart of what we do at Lung Ha Theatre Company, and this publication is a starting point to extending a pathway for our actors, and for the companies, artists and colleagues they will work with along the way.”