Professor Hannah Thompson - Inclusive Description for Equality and Access (IDEA)

Principal Investigator: Prof Hannah Thompson (Royal Holloway)
Project Partners: Audio Description Providers: VocalEyes, Mind’s Eye Description, Totally Inclusive People / Theatre Companies: Shakespeare’s Globe, Donmar Warehouse, Mind the Gap, Royal Exchange Theatre, The Octagon Theatre
Research Team: Dr Rachel Hutchinson
Project Website

The project has supported and enabled theatre professionals and audio describers to engage with and explore the findings of the 2020 ‘Describing Diversity’ report in order to promote the creation of inclusive audio descriptions, which celebrate diversity in ethical ways. We have worked with directors, casting directors, actors, access professionals and front-of-house teams at five producing theatres / theatre companies and put them in dialogue with audio describers and audio description users in a series of pre-show workshops and post-show public Q and A sessions to promote the value of AD as both a communicator and a driver of equality, diversity and inclusion.

Project Film

Watch the film about this project below, made by biggerhouse films. There are two versions: an audio-described version and a BSL (British Sign Language) version.

Please see full credit in the expandable section below.