Driving Me Batty

To Wyndham's Theatre with L to see Driving Miss Daisy with Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones. Really enjoyed the show but the wheelchair access was astounding. I remember hearing about this place when visiting the Donmar a year or so back but it truly was the worst I've ever encountered.

We entered via a door from the street, which I'm used to, but this shielded three steep steps down to a gloomy narrow box at the back of the stalls -- which I'm not. Undignified descent. Once down, feeling less than independent, two of the four chairs had to be moved before I could manoeuvre the chair at all. On the plus side, we had our own toilet.

Door shut tight behind us, with the usher's assurance that he and the fire officer would be along at the end of the play or, if the theatre was to catch fire, even sooner, fading into the street noise. Magically, he reappeared in front of us to selll us a programme and two G&Ts.

Beautiful Victorian theatre but an odd position, behind the stalls seats. One of the audience even asked if we were supposed to be there, so I told him we'd slipped in off the street and offered to sell him a Big Issue.

At the end of a touching evening I was bodily lifted by the two young men, in my chair, back up to street level. Grade 2 listed building I understand, and how else would I have seen the play, but please -- in 2011? It's a Health & Safety nightmare as it is but, if they stopped people like me using the theatre, how would I get to see productions like this?

Something Must Be Done, by someone else in an ideal world.