Ben has worked extensively across the theatre industry as an audio description consultant. After losing his eyesight in his early 20s, a fire was lit in Ben to challenge and support the industry to provide better access for visually impaired audiences. This has led him to work on a huge variety of shows, from one person shows in rooms above pubs, to major productions on some of the country’s biggest stages, and from Shakespearen classics to West End musicals.

Ben believes that Audio Description should not only be about providing access, but can be an exciting extra creative layer to your storytelling. This gives visually impaired audiences as artistically satisfying a time as everyone else. This could be

• integrated audio description, so that there’s no need for headsets

• creative audio description performed by the cast of the show itself or another performer to headsets on every performance

• pre-recorded creative audio description that is available on every performance

• improve the audience experience and creativity in standard, traditional one off audio described performances.

Ben has been Audio Description Director or Audio Description Consultant on many shows, including a Midsummer Night’s Dream (Royal Shakespeare Company,) Standing at the Sky’s Edge (Sheffield Theatres, National Theatre and West End), Anthony and Cleopatra, (Shakespeare’s Globe), Of Mice and Men, Three Billy Goats Gruff and Chicken Licken (Derby Theatre) and Ben has collaborated a number of times with Leeds Playhouse Deputy Artistic Director Amy Leach on many of her shows including Jim Cartwright’s Road, Macbeth, Lord of the Flies and Oliver Twist.

Ben spent five years as Agent For Change at Sheffield Theatres. During this time Ben transformed how the organisation thinks about access at all levels but perhaps most notably strategically restructured access performances on in-house productions.

Through this extensive experience he supported and cofounded the creative audio description company Hear The Picture (HTP). HTP have gone on to deliver creative audio description with major venues and organisations across the country including Theatre Clwyd, Complicite, Storyhouse and the National Theatre.