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

You can approach Aviva Studios along Water Street (coming from Quay Street) or along Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield). Both entrances to the building have double sets of glass doors.

Once inside Aviva Studios, there is step-free access to all areas of the venue. The flooring throughout the building is smooth concrete.

The entrance to the Hall is by lift, escalator or stairs from one side of the Social beside the brick arches. There is only one escalator, and this will take you up to the Hall before the show, and will be reversed so that you can travel down at the end of the performance.

The Social has a range of seating, including those with arms and backs.

The bars in the Social and Hall Foyer have lowered accessible service points.

Our building is large. We have portable stools available to borrow if you would benefit from resting along the way during your visit.

We have wheelchair spaces and seats at standing events for all events.

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, as well as a Changing Places facility.

The toilets in the brick arches of the Social are split into male, female and gender neutral – all of which contain accessible cubicles. 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 located in both Hall Foyers, at stalls and circle level.

There are additional single-room accessible toilets located in the Warehouse Foyer.

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

Assistance dogs are welcome in our building, 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. Please also refer to our assistance dogs policy.

If you are bringing an assistance dog to a ticketed event, please let us know in advance by contacting access@factoryinternational.org or calling our access phone number: 0161 817 4531 (phone lines are open 10am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday).

We look forward to welcoming Personal Assistants (PA's) to Linda Brogan’s In the Ruins of the Big House. PA tickets are available to book online and are free for our Deaf, disabled, and neurodiverse visitors when needed and when booked with an access ticket.

Please note, due to the highly intimate nature of this experience, we politely remind PA’s that they are invited into the space to support the access ticket holder they are accompanying to participate. If you’d also like to participate in this work, we encourage you to please book a standard ticket instead.

If you have any additional questions about which ticket type best meets your requirements, please do not hesitate to contact our Access Team on access@factoryinternational.org or call us on 0161 817 4531 (phone lines are open 10am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday).

Within In the Ruins of the Big House there are discussions of racial and biracial identity, as well as a number of themes that audience members may find difficult - including references to slavery, plantation history, racial inequality, colonialism and its lasting impacts, and themes of marginalisation, powerlessness and racism. 

It also contains personal anecdotes that touch on sensitive topics including, alcoholism and family dysfunction, violence, murder, sexual assault and teenage pregnancy. There is strong language throughout and mentions of historical trauma and its intergenerational impact. 

For anyone who feels affected by any of the issues raised within this work, we would like to signpost to the following organisations for their expert resources, help and advice:

Black Minds Matter UK and Mind - for mental health support 

Safeline - for support with sexual assault 

We Are With You - for support with alcohol addiction 

The production involves:

• An immersive, candlelit dining table setting that recalls plantation imagery
• Intimate seating arrangements with up to twelve audience members per group
• Audience participation in discussions and sharing of personal experiences
• Potentially emotionally intense and politically charged conversations
• Use of illustrated tarot-like cards as part of the performance

We are sorry that assistive listening is not available for this event. To explore events that do have this access provision available, check out our access performance information page.