Roundabout

The world’s first pop-up, plug-and-play theatre.

Play

Roundabout is our tourable, in-the-round, 167-seater auditorium.

Since 2014, we’ve pitched up all over the country, from the Summerhall Courtyard during the Edinburgh Fringe, to a football pitch in Coventry, on Margate seafront, by a lake in Poole Park, in Doncaster market square, on campus in Lincoln.

We built Roundabout because we’re passionate about new plays and we want as many people as possible to be able to see them.

Many places in the country don’t have theatres. Now we can take a theatre to them.

Our Partners

Facts and figures

Roundabout is completely self-contained with state-of-the-art LED lighting and surround sound.

There are no visible conventional lighting units or speakers in Roundabout. The theatre uses ‘plug and play’ technology. The lighting facilities consist of 627 individual LED light fittings – a mixture of colour mixing and tuneable white – installed in the roof of the theatre. This pixelated lighting has the ability to project images.

It took us four years of inventing, designing, head-scratching, fundraising, sanity-checking, coercing and testing to get from initial idea to launch in 2014.

Roundabout was designed by Lucy Osborne and Emma Chapman in collaboration with Charcoalblue and Howard Eaton. It was built and developed by Factory Settings.

Get Roundabout

Partners

We’re always looking for venues and producers to help us pop-up Roundabout across the UK. If you’re interested in bringing Roundabout to your town and working with us to create a unique, exciting, local programme of work then please get in touch with us.

Hire

Roundabout is a hugely versatile multi-use space. Whether you’re hosting a conference or a cookery demo, Roundabout will give your event some serious wow factor. Give us a shout to find out more about hiring Roundabout.

Performance

Roundabout regularly sits in the Summerhall Courtyard during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, hosting a jam-packed programme. If you are an artist or a company and you’d like to make work for Roundabout or have something you think is perfect for the space we’d love to hear from you. Click here to find out more about Roundabout programming.

Access

We aim to be fully accessible and actively work with venues to programme fully accessible performances of our shows, but we know that there’s a lot more that we can do.

If you have any questions on the accessibility of any our shows, access requirements that aren’t mentioned below or ideas of how we can improve, please do get in touch with us by email.

Wheelchair and limited mobility access

Roundabout is fully wheelchair accessible and is always popped up on a step-free site. We can accommodate up to four wheelchair users per performance by removing sections of the front benching, so wheelchair users are seated on the front row. Companions are provided with a seat next to the wheelchair. For more wheelchair and limited mobility access information on our different venues, please visit our partner and tour venue websites.

T-Loop
Roundabout has a built in T-loop available for every performance. Just ask our friendly Front Of House staff, and switch your hearing aid on to use it.

Captioned performances
Depending on the venue, these may be closed captioned or open captioned. Theatre captions are similar to television subtitles and give people who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing access to live performance. The actors’ words appear on an LED caption unit or units, placed next to the stage or in amongst the audience at the same time as they are spoken or sung.
When touring with Roundabout, performances will be closed captioned on tablets due to the limitations of the space. We have an on-going partnership with Stagetext to ensure our captioning service is as up to date as possible.

Relaxed performances
You will be able to download visual stories for our shows that have relaxed performances, below.

Audio described
Audio description is a live verbal commentary providing information on the visual elements of a production as it unfolds, describing action that is essential to the understanding of the story, as well as other visual information such as the style and design, sets, costumes, facial expressions and visual jokes. The description will be delivered around the dialogue of a performance and you can listen to it through a discreet headset.

Medical requirements
We welcome attendees who may require medicines, food, drinks or medical equipment to manage a medical condition, and there will always be a trained First Aider at the venue or on site.

Assistance dogs
We welcome assistance dogs, though do ask that you let us know in advance using the above contact details, and provide proof that any dog is registered with an organisation that is a member of Assistance Dogs UK or equivalent.

Supporters

Trusts and Foundations

Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Garfield Weston Foundation
J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust
John Ellerman Foundation
Theatres Trust

Corporate

Universal Consolidated Group
Howard Eaton Lighting Ltd
Charcoalblue
Avolites Ltd
Factory Settings
Total Solutions Group

Name a seat

AKA
Alan Brodie Representation
Alice Williams
Andre Ptaszynski
Anne McMeehan Roberts
Anonymous

ARG Talent
ATG
Breckman & Company
Brian King
Caro Newling
Casarotto Ramsay & Associates Ltd
Celia Atkin
Charlotte Armer
Cindy Polemis
Connolly Family
Conor Gunn
Craig & Kate Walmsley
Curtis Brown
David & Nili Chinn
David Lan
Debra Hauer
Edwina Sasson
Elizabeth & Vincent Meyer
Elizabeth Menzies
Emma Brunjes Productions
Enda Walsh
Fiona Victory & Ken Cranham
Gareth Lake & Adam Blanshay
Gavin Kalin
Guy Chapman / Target Live
Harbottle & Lewis LLP
Hilary Spencer
Huda Cotran
Independent Talent Group Ltd
James McMeehan Roberts
Joe & Laura Pickles
John Tiffany
Jon & NoraLee Sedmak
Josie Long
Julian Tregoning
Katie Bradford
Kenneth Branagh
Kim & Stewart Grant
Leslie Eaton
Marilyn Imrie & James Runcie
Matthew Vaight
Michael Grandage Company
Nica Burns
Nick Hern Books
Nick Payne
Nicolas Brown
Nimax Theatres Ltd
Olive Montgomery
Phyllida Lloyd
Playful Productions
Richard Lee
Richard Wilson
Ruth & Jim Grover
Sally Greene
Sam Mendes
Sandra Wilkinson
Sara Geater
Sarah Havens
Sarah Mansell & Tim Bouquet
Sharon Burrell
Sir Ian McKellen
Sir Ronald Harwood
Sonia Friedman
Stewart D Grant
Stuart Thompson
Susan Wilson
Tamara Cizeika
Target Live
Tessie Eaton
The Agency (London) Ltd
The Mackintosh Foundation
The Old Vic Theatre
United Agents
Zarine Kharas

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