Access Lanyard

If you’d like a little extra support getting around the festival, please request an Access lanyard from our Box Office. This will signal to our volunteers to keep an extra eye out for you.

The Venue

The Pleasance, Edinburgh is fully wheelchair accessible. Lifts are available to access all event spaces. The lifts to the Upper Hall, Lomond Room and the Pleasance Theatre require an access key. On arrival at the Pleasance ahead of the event, please come to the Festival Box Office and one of our team will be ready to assist.

There is small step into the bookshop space. The wheelchair access ramp for the bookshop is around the back of the building - head towards the Creators Hall (yellow building), then take a left.

Getting to the Box Office

When entering the Courtyard from Pleasance, turn left and enter the main building. The main entrance is distinguished by its many sets of doors in one location and our Cymera signage outside. When inside, turn left and the Box Office will be directly ahead. There is a small ramp to enter the box office.

In the Event Spaces

There are wheelchair spaces in the front row of the second tier of the Main Theatre and in the front of the Upper Hall seating. Both of these are accessed by lift which uses a key. The key is kept by a volunteer by the lift.

Toilets

The Pleasance has individual all gender toilets throughout the building. Accessible toilets are located throughout the building, next to the box office and opposite the signing area.

Hearing Loops are available in the Theatre and Upper Hall for the Cymera panel events. Please note the Pratchett Play does not use speech amplification.

Guide Dogs are welcome and if you need any water for them, you can get some at the bar.

Events are Recorded in case you miss one, we will send you a catch-up link after the festival weekend.

Lifts

The lift to the Theatre, Upper Hall and Lomond Room is located in the Pleasance Bar. This lift is operated by a key. Please speak to one of our Festival Volunteers for Access.

The lift to the Signing Space and the Games Space is accessed from the courtyard, opposite the entrance to the Festival Bookshop. This lift is operated by a key. Please speak to one of our Festival Volunteers for Access.

The lift to the Quiet Room, Braid, Cheviot and Music Room is accessed from the Festival Office building. This lift does not require a key.

The Munro Room is not wheelchair accessible.

Queuing

We aim to open the event spaces 20 minutes before the start of each event. Unfortunately there is no seating in the queuing areas. Please speak to one of our festival volunteers and we will arrange for early access to the room or a reserved seat.

The signing room has limited seating. This space can become very warm when busy in the summer. If you require help, please signal to a volunteer in a blue Cymera T-Shirt.

Quiet Space

The Torridon Room on the first floor has been set aside as a quiet space, with comfortable seating and low natural light from a corner window. It is an average-sized room which is often used as a dance studio and therefore has one mirrored area.

There will be soft furnishings including pillows and an air mattress as well as different materials.

There will also be regulation tools such stim toys. The space will have some hard-backed chairs. There is room to move about the space or sit on the floor if you prefer.

Parking

There is no public parking within the Pleasance Courtyard. Blue Badge Holders are able to park on the road just outside.

For long term parking within walking distance, we recommend Nicolson Square Car Park or St Leonards Car Park (Hermits Croft, Edinburgh EH8 9SW). Please note that there is no longer free parking in Edinburgh City Centre on a Sunday.

If you have access requests or concerns, please don't hesitate to approach our volunteers or contact us in advance of the festival weekend on access@cymerafestival.co.uk

BSL Interpretation

Thanks to the support from Creative Scotland, we have funding to support a small number of events with British Sign Language interpretation.

Events will be assigned a BSL interpreter only by request.

Please Email access@cymerafestival.co.uk to request an interpreter for an event.

We will process requests weekly and make arrangements with our BSL interpreters before coming back to you to confirm your request.

The final date for requests is 10 May 2025.

Please note that we can only fulfil a limited number of requests.

Free Tickets

We recognize that financial reasons may prevent someone from attending the Festival. This year, as well as free individual tickets on the day, we are offering complimentary weekend passes.

The weekend pass give you free access to all our in person events, the digital ones as well as the catch-up recordings on the Cymera website.

Requests are kept strictly confidential. Please note that we only have a limited number of in-person passes.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions about how we can make Cymera more accessible, please get in touch on access@cymerafestival.co.uk