The Ark presents an autism friendly performance of White

The Ark and Dublin Theatre Festival have recently successfully presented an autism friendly performance of White, an enchanting Broadway Drama Desk Award-nominated show for young children from Catherine Wheels Theatre Company, Scotland. The performance, the first autism friendly theatre performance of its kind in Ireland, took place on Saturday 29 September. 


The performance enjoyed a full house and was very well recieved and we have been sent a number of personal thank you messages from parents who have expressed their hope that we will schedule more autism friendly events in the near future.

Autism
 friendly 
theatre 
performances
 have 
been 
run 
in 
conjunction 
with 
other 
theatre
 productions 
in 
the 
UK 
and 
US 
successfully 
for 
a 
number
 of 
years.
 
They 
are 
aimed
 at 
families 
whose
 children 
are 
on 
the autism 
spectrum 
or 
those 
who 
have 
sensory 
sensitivities. 

Essentially, 
the 
aim
 is
 to 
provide 
a 
setting 
where 
everyone 
feels comfortable. 

This 
is 
done 
through 
a 
number 
of 
theatrical 
devices
 including
 signaling 
when 
something 
loud 
or 
surprising 
may 
happen and
 crucially 
through 
the 
provision 
of 
a 
familiarisation 
pack 
for 
parents
 in 
advance 
to 
work 
through 
with 
their 
children 
before attending.
 
The 
autism
 friendly 
information pack 
for 
the 
performance 
at 
The 
Ark 
is 
available here. 


The Theatre Development Fund's Autism Theatre Initiative and Irish Autism Action acted as advisors to The Ark in this venture.