Battersea Arts Centre becomes relaxed venue

Battersea Arts Centre will become a fully relaxed venue from Friday.

Artistic Director Tarek Iskander said spaces at the south London centre have been made more accessible for disabled guests, and that audiences will be permitted to talk and move around during performances. The organisation believes this makes it the first relaxed venue in the UK.

"The fear was that it would be hard to manage or be disruptive, but it hasn't. You can feel the audience give out a sigh of relief," Iskander said.

Though there was some scepticism from artists about how relaxed performances would work in practice, Iskander said the change hasn't felt like a "trade off".

"I think particularly for young people who don't come to the theatre often, the relaxed methodology can be really helpful for them.

"We all have the right to participate … as long as it's respectful. It's one of the things we have to address otherwise we'll just keep turning people away."