That's just the brief details - scroll down for the full review!
Northern Stage is one of those venues that I’ve seen come up in local entertainment guides but not somewhere that I’ve ever visited. Why did I leave it so long? Our first visit was excellent - let me tell you why!
BOOKING
Accessible bookings can be made online.
On certain events, seats for our Captioned, Audio Described and BSL Interpreted performances for users of those services, with seats located in the best place in the auditorium to make use of the relevant facility.
When you register for an account with the venue, you can update your preferences and access requirements for captions, audio descriptions, or wheelchair user. You can then view the availability online and make your ticket purchase.
The venue recommends that if it’s your first time visiting, you book directly with the box office via telephone or email to ensure all of your needs are met and appropriate advice can be given for each particular performance space.
However, if you require a companion or assistant ticket, these can only be booked through the Box Office directly so you can view the availability online but can’t make the booking.
As it was my first visit, I gave the box office a call, they took my booking details and emailed the tickets to me!
LOCATION AND GETTING THERE
Northern Stage is a contemporary theatre with 3 performance spaces and a café bar, situated within the grounds of Newcastle University, close to the popular shopping area of Newcastle city centre.
Its location makes it super easy to get to by public transport and also means there are multiple parking options in the area.
The Tyne and Wear metro service stops at the nearby Haymarket station, connecting with Newcastle Airport and various stops out towards the coastline. Haymarket also has a bus station.
The Northern Stage website states that Blue Badge holders can use any accessible bay, where available, on the University campus, but despite doing lots of research and using the Newcastle University website, I was unable to find a definitive answer as to where the onsite accessible bays were.
On the Virtual Tool on the Northern Stage website, there is a walkthrough video showing 2 accessible bays along the side of their building, but signs in the area make it unclear whether you are permitted to park there. The signage suggests you need a University permit alongside your Blue Badge.
All of the university car parks are open to the public outside of regular hours (after 5pm, all day weekends etc.), although charges may apply, so you must check the signage. There are also some street parking bays dotted around the area.
The best option we found was the Herschel Car Park - a short, step-free distance from the venue with multiple accessible bays and free for blue badge holders.
There are lots of council run car parks in the area with varying charges and time limits so it’s worth double checking before you go.
The university campus is all very accessible with lots of ramps and level surfaces. There are lots of information posts dotted around to direct you to relevant buildings and help you find your way around. The biggest negative I found was the lighting - arriving after dusk, the campus was street lit but the lights are few and far between so it’s quite dark. If you’re unfamiliar with the area, this might be disorientating.
If you’re approaching the venue from the city centre of the Metro station, we didn’t see any signage for the venue. We had a good idea of where we were headed, so aimed in that direction. When we saw there was a flight of stairs up to where we wanted to be, we looked around for an alternative route, however, we then realised there was a ramped walkway up alongside one of the buildings - it was quite long but that meant it wasn’t too steep. By the time we got to the top, we were right at the venue door!
GETTING IN
The venue has two doors at opposite ends of the building, but we chose the one nearest to us, which was the ‘main’ door, straight into the foyer area in front of the box office and near the café bar. The access was all level with automatic doors.
When we arrived, the café bar was quite busy and there were a few people standing around waiting to collect tickets or unable to find a table to sit at. The show was due to start at 7.30pm and by 6.45pm the foyer was absolutely packed. The queue for the bar was out of the door and it was extremely difficult to move around.
I would recommend that, if you want to have a drink or something to eat, arrive up to an hour before the show time. If you want to arrive and go straight to your seat, about 15 minutes before the show seemed like a good time, as the initial queue for the stage doors had died down a bit.
For the seating we had in Stage 1, row R, it was totally step free and not far away from the entrance. If we’d had tickets at the opposite end of the row, we would have been even closer!
FACILITIES
The box office desk is low and can be wheeled under.
The Northern Stage has a large café bar, open weekdays 11.30am - 3pm and weekends if there is a show on, serving a lunch menu. On evenings that there’s a show, the café bar opens 2.5 hours before the show serving an evening menu and a pizza menu. You can book a table in advance for a show evening online, which I’d recommend as it gets extremely busy.
The menus cater for dietary requirements and they use local sourced and produced foods.
The bar served a selection of soft and alcoholic drinks as well as hot drinks. There is also a selection of cake and sandwiches, crisps, ice creams and sweets. Snacks and drinks served in plastic or paper cups can be taken into the performance areas.
You can also pre-order drinks and snacks for the interval.
The café bar counter does have a lowered section that you can wheel under, but when the bar was so busy and the queues were long, the staff were only serving in the middle of the main bar. It would have been impossible to wheel directly to the lowered counter to get served.
The café bar tables all have a central pillar rather than legs, but the square bases make the underside of the table obstructed. The tables are quite close together and the space is quite cluttered, so it is difficult to get around when it’s busy.
There are no toilets on the café bar floor of the building.
There is an accessible toilet on the mezzanine level, accessed by lift from the opposite end of the café bar to the box office. There is also an accessible toilet down from here, at Stage 2, along with some gender neutral toilets.
There are two accessible toilets on the lower level of the building, accessed by the lift near to the box office (Lift 1, ground floor, reception). These are the Stage 3 accessible toilets, one being at each side of the performance space.
The first is near the men's toilets, close to the lift, the other being near the ladies toilets along the corridor.
From where we were seated in Stage 1 row R on the left, we were near a large unmarked door. Through this door you will also find a lobby with a Changing Places facility and a lift (Lift 2, ground floor, stage 1 upper) that will take you down to the accessible toilet near the ladies for Stage 3.
There were ice creams for sale in the interval, half way down the steps on the opposite side of the performance space, which I had no access to, but ice creams were available at the café bar.
For this event, there was no merchandise available, so no merch desk.
SEATING
The performance space seating in Stage 1 was comfortable padded, fabric upholstered seats. My wheelchair space was on the end of Row R, where seats 1 and 2 had been removed. My companion's seat was seat number 3.
There is not a lot of room between the rows of seats, however, in the wheelchair space, there were no seats behind me so I could keep my chair positioned further back to let people pass in front of me.
The tiered seating isn’t very steep, so if someone on the row in front was to stand up, your view would be obstructed.
The entire Row R is step-free.
I can’t comment on the seating in Stages 2 and 3.
GETTING BACK OUT
As I was seated near the door, it was easier to leave promptly as the show finished rather than wait to let everyone past me. There are doors at both sides of the room, so it emptied fairly quickly
OVERALL EXPERIENCE
The whole building is totally accessible and has been well thought out.
The bar area was very busy with long queues, making getting around very difficult. I’d recommend either booking a table and arriving early to eat, or get there about 45 minutes before the show and head straight to the bar.
The University campus could do with some better lighting around the grounds as some areas were quite dark.
