The full address of the venue is Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester M3 4JQ and the what3words is chop.feeds.chase.

To book access tickets and personal assistant tickets please call 0161 817 4531 (Monday–Friday, 10am–5pm) or email access@factoryinternational.org

Access bookings can be made by email or phone. They will also be available in person from our venue from 27 September 2023.

We're a new purpose-built cultural space in the heart of Manchester. The approach to Aviva Studios is flat, with smooth concrete flooring.

The entrance to our building is through double glass doors. There are automatic doors at both entrances and these are also staffed when the building is open to the public.

Once inside, there is step-free access to all areas of the venue. Lifts to the Warehouse are located through the glass doors beside the city entrance.

Lift and escalator access to the Hall is located next to the river entrance, just beyond the brick arches.

You will first arrive into the Social, a large public space where there are a range of seats (including those with arms), a bar and toilets.

The bars in the Social and Hall Foyer have lowered accessible service points, and induction loops for hearing-aid users.

There are accessible toilets on all public levels of our building.

Accessible toilets are located inside the main toilets space in the brick arches of the Social.

Here you’ll find a mixture of accessible cubicles with left- or right-hand transfer, towards the back of the space, as well as ambulant accessible cubicles with grab rails.

The toilets in the brick arches of the Social are gender neutral, so you can use facilities in any of the three arches. There are shared handwashing facilities in each arch – they have soap dispensers under the mirrors to your left and dryers to the right. There are separate handwashing facilities inside the accessible cubicles.

There are additional single-room accessible toilets in located in both Hall Foyers, at stalls and circle level.

You do not need a key to use the accessible toilets at Aviva Studios.

We are working hard to get our Changing Places up and running as soon as possible, but unfortunately it is not currently ready to use. We are very sorry for the inconvenience. If you have any queries in the meantime, please drop our team a line on access@factoryinternational.org and we’ll be happy to help.

Assistance dogs are welcome at Aviva Studios, and we can provide mats and water bowls on request, just ask a host when you arrive. We can also take care of your assistance dog if you do not want to take your dog into the performance space.

If you’re bringing an assistance dog to this event and would like us to make arrangements to care for them, please let us know by contacting access@factoryinternational.org or calling our access phone number: 0161 817 4531 (phone lines are open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday).

There is step-free access to all areas of the venue, with lift access to the Warehouse from the Social, and lift and escalator access to the Hall from the Social. The escalator leading to the Hall foyers usually works in the direction of audience flow, so it will take you up before the performance, and the same escalator will bring you down at the interval or at the end of the show.

This performance will use both the Hall and Warehouse spaces. In the Hall, there will be reserved seating – here we have wheelchair spaces in the stalls, 6 in the mid-circle, and 6 in the rear circle, which you can book by calling 0161 817 4531 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm) or emailing access@factoryinternational.org. Access bookings can be made by email or phone. They will also be available in person from our venue from 27 September 2023.

In the Warehouse, where there will be unreserved standing, we will have a dedicated access seating area with wheelchair spaces and seating for those who require it. This area will also have reserved space for Audio Description, Captioning and BSL users on our access performance dates.

We are working hard to get our assisted listening / induction loops system up and running as soon as possible, but unfortunately it is not currently ready to use. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are working to resolve this. If you have any queries, please drop our team a line on access@factoryinternational.org and we’ll be happy to help.

We use WilliamsAV WaveCAST receivers to provide assisted listening at Aviva Studios.

You can collect a WaveCAST device from a member of our Front of House team when you arrive for your event. The Front of House team will also be able to show you how to use the device and connect to the audio feed for your event.

We can provide headphones for use with the receivers, but you are also welcome to use your own headphones if you have them.

We can also provide neckloops to use with the WaveCAST receiver if you are a hearing aid user. Again, you can collect these from our Front of House team when you arrive.

If you prefer, you can also download the WilliamsAV WaveCAST Receiver app to your own wifi-connected mobile device before you visit (IOS – WaveCAST app / Android – WaveCAST app) and use your own headphones to listen. When you arrive in the venue, you will be able to join the wifi network and choose the appropriate channel for your event in the app.

There are audio-described performances of Free Your Mind on the following dates:

Friday 20 October at 7.30pm

Sunday 29 October at 2.30pm

Thursday 2 November at 7.30pm

We are working hard to get our WaceCAST assisted listening / induction loops system up and running as soon as possible, but unfortunately it is not currently ready to use. Audio description for these performance will be delivered using headsets and Inner Ear Monitor packs rather than our WaveCAST system.

If you are attending and need to use an audio description headset, but have not booked an audio description ticket, please get in touch at tickets@factoryinternational.org so we can ensure you receive your headset, and have appropriate seats.

If you are attending the performance, but do not wish to attend the touch tour, please visit the Orange Box in the Social a staff member will ensure you have a headset for the performance.

If you have any questions or concerns about your visit, please email us at tickets@factoryinternational.org, or call our ticketing team on 0161 817 4531 (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm). We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are working to resolve this.

There are captioned performances of Free Your Mind on the following dates:

Saturday 21 October at 7.30pm

Saturday 28 October at 2.30pm

Wednesday 1 November at 7.30pm

The captioning will be displayed on screens.

Please note that Act 2 contains no captions as there is no narrative-based dialogue.

There are BSL interpreted performances of Free Your Mind on the following dates:

Saturday 21 October at 2.30pm

Thursday 26 October at 7.30pm

Saturday 4 November at 7.30pm

The interpreter is Lizzie Wharton.

There are relaxed performances of Free Your Mind on the following dates:

Sunday 22 October at 2.30pm

Tuesday 24 October at 7.30pm

Saturday 4 November at 2.30pm

The performance on Tuesday 24 October will also have reduced audience capacity.

For the relaxed performances of Free Your Mind, we have made the following technical adjustments:

Lighting:

Overall lighting levels throughout the show are reduced.

Individual lighting effects are less intense – we have taken out strobes and fast moving lights, as well as ‘blinder’ lights that would normally shine at the audience.

There are still some lasers used in the show – these are metres above the heads of the audience, at the very end of Act 2, and point upwards into the ceiling only.

There are some handheld lights used by the performers (lightsticks in Act 1, which do not flash, and iPhone sized lights in Act 2 which will be at 50% intensity for the Relaxed shows

The House Lights will be on at a low level in the Hall so that the audience can see.

The lighting has been adjusted in the Warehouse so that the audience can see.

If you are affected by lighting you might prefer to sit/stand further back in the Warehouse, as sitting on the front bench or standing close to the stage tends to leave the footlights in your eyeline.
Conversely, the back rows of the stalls in the Hall still have some brief moments of brighter lights on them right at the end (the last minute) of Act 1.

Sound:

Overall sound levels are reduced throughout – edgier music sections and the most extreme sub bass have been smoothed out to be less intense.

There are some gun shots and cannon effects which have been minimised.

We will have ear defenders or ear plugs available to use if required.

Special effects:

All smoke flares have been removed.

Video:

In the standard show, Act 2 has a large LCD screen above the stage (which operates at three different heights, at stage level, 2m above stage and 3.5m above stage at different times during the show). This screen usually shows some fast-moving, flickering images – particularly in the first 12 mins of Act 2. For the relaxed shows, we have replaced the fast moving, glitching content with static images which will fade into one another.

There are still some sections of video content that follow the beat of the music, but these are much less fast-moving.

After that first 12 minute section, the screen is either at 2.5m or 3m above the stage throughout Act 2, meaning that it’s not directly in the audience’s eyeline. The screen returns to stage level for the curtain call at the end of the show, when it has static images on it.

In addition to these technical adjustments to the show, audiences will be welcome to move, wriggle and make noise if they need to. It will be fine to leave the performance space and come back if you need to. There will be an announcement about these things before the show starts, so that everyone knows what to expect.

Please note this show contains loud music and sound effects, smoke, haze, flashing, lasers and bright lights. There are depictions of guns and sound of gunfire (though there are no physical guns within the production) as well as stylised depictions of death and references to drugs or pills. There are also fast-moving screens as part of the pre-show and interval.

Please see ‘Relaxed Performances’ above for details of how these things are adjusted for our Relaxed shows.