Birmingham Hippodrome

Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

I enjoy visiting the Birmingham Hippodrome, but it is difficult for me to acquire tickets to any show performed on stage at this venue.

Where regular customers phone up or go online to book tickets, I acquire disabled seating when I go to venues such as the Birmingham Hippodrome and therefore, I have to phone the ticket service up within weeks of the show to try and get tickets or actually go there in person to be able to get tickets to the show of my choice.

For every show I’ve ever been to watch, not only at the Birmingham Hippodrome but other theatres elsewhere, I have found that disabled tickets sell out way faster than regular tickets. But I love to go and see shows on stage particularly at the Birmingham Hippodrome so I make sure to get my tickets early as soon as I see a promotion.

Immediately as you walk into the Birmingham Hippodrome there are advertisements and promotional posters which display some of the titles that are currently at or going to come to the Birmingham Hippodrome.

The lobby has flat ramp access to all areas of it, so I was able to look at all the upcoming plays and productions coming to the Birmingham Hippodrome at leisure to see which one I would like to go and see next.

At the back of the Birmingham Hippodrome was two lifts to take customers up to the main stages where the productions were set to be performed.

As people want to get to their seats before showtime hits, the lift queues are usually really long as people file into the lifts to get up there. On my most recent visit to the Birmingham Hippodrome, dad and I had to work very hard to get through to the queues of people who were able to walk to be able to get in the lift to be able to get to the main stages to watch the show.

On this visit, we got the lift up to the stages and went to find our seats to get seated before it all started, but we were unable to identify where our seats were. We started to stress as it was getting close to show time and we went to find a member of staff to ask them to point us in the right direction.

Unfortunately, when we looked around for a member of staff to help us, there was no one around. The two of us had to go searching for someone, which was very difficult for us to as we were very on restricted time. It was very disheartening as the staff members were very helpful in the Hippodrome lobby.

When we did get to our seats, I found there was space for myself in my wheelchair and my companion, which in this case was my dad. When we were seeing the production of The Nutcracker performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet, the disabled seating area was full, and it was slightly more difficult for all of the wheelchair users and our companion to fit, but we all did manage to fit and sit in comfort.

The seats my dad and I were sitting in were great, I had a perfect view of the stage and the production. The only challenge was the heads of those sitting in front of us, they got in the way of my sight to the stage which was annoying. Maybe the disabled seating platform needs to be raised high for the disabled customers to be able to see and enjoy the production. This might be a suggestion worth considering, especially when the audience gives a standing ovation at the end of the production.