Overview

Went to see Dear Evan Hansen while visiting Aberdeen, and the show was absolutely brilliant - incredible performers and vocals that kept me on the edge of my seat. The theatre itself is beautiful and mostly accessible, though we ran into some issues around parking and clear sightlines from the wheelchair spaces.

Transport & Parking

Parking was confusing and limited. While I entered on foot via the new glass entrance with no issues, my parents were in the car and struggled to find accessible parking. I asked staff inside and was told there are only two accessible bays in the theatre’s own parking area - and directions to them were difficult to follow. Two different staff members tried to help, but it was hard to visualise, especially as a non-driver. My parents ended up parking in nearby on-street parking. From what I’ve seen in other reviews, this seems to be a recurring issue - clearer guidance would help a lot. By foot, the pavements were easy to navigate.

Access

The new accessible entrance is great - level access through glass doors, followed by a small lift down to the stalls. We attended a captioned performance, which would've been great as I’m hard of hearing, but whilst the accessible seating itself was easy to get to, it had some trade-offs: the space is behind several rows, which made it tricky to see both the stage and the captions. I'm short, so I found myself having to choose between reading the captions and watching the show. There’s a bar located below the stalls, which we wanted to visit, but it didn’t appear to be accessible - we weren’t corrected when we turned away, so I assume it wasn’t reachable via lift. The Terrace area was lovely and offered a great view of Aberdeen.

Toilets

We used the accessible toilet near the Terrace Café. It was decent in size, with grab rails and a red emergency cord, but it was quite cluttered - there were three bins very close to the toilet, which would be a real obstacle for anyone transferring. The tissues were mounted far from the toilet, which wouldn’t be reachable for someone with stiff joints or short arms. That said, I appreciated the inclusion of pads and tampons. Clean and well-lit overall.

Staff

Mixed experience here. Some staff were lovely and helpful, especially when I asked about parking. Others seemed a bit unsure or uncomfortable when discussing access needs, which made me feel a little awkward. Nothing major went wrong, but there’s room to improve staff confidence in handling access questions.

Photos