Partially Accessible Cinema & Theatre In Collins StreetAthenaeum Theatre

The theatre is located on Collins Street in the City of Melbourne and the streets around the theatre are fairly steep. If you are using a manual wheelchair it’s fairly hard work pushing yourself up to the theatre from the traffic light. If you are strong enough you will be fine but it’s still fairly challenging to get around on these streets in this area. No problem for power wheelchair users though.

The theatre itself has a small step going into the building itself from Collins Street but there’s also a cut away area on the right side of the doors leading into the building from the street, so it’s step free access from the street. However, Collins Street is a fairly steep street to go along so it’s best to have a powered wheelchair to get around in the street unless you have someone else with you that can help you push your wheelchair up to the theatre otherwise if you have strong enough arms you could try doing it yourself but it’s directly opposite the Regent Theatre as well which is also steep to get around on too.

Once inside the theatre there’s a dedicated disabled bathroom to the side of the entrance and then to get access to the theatre itself there’s a slight slope going down to the seating areas and the best seats are available in the stalls area as the dress circle is only accessible via a flight of stairs which is the situation in most Melbourne theatres. The stalls area is accessible for everyone, and they can help you to your seat if you can transfer yourself and they’ll take your wheelchair back to the foyer until the intermission if there’s one during the show or they’ll bring it back to you at the end of the show.

The only downside of this theatre is that the building is located on a steep street which is Collins Street. You can be dropped off directly outside of the theatre and there’s parking available in the nearby streets but can’t remember if there’s any disabled parking available in the immediate area.

Accessible toilets can be found at St Collins Lane, City Library, Flinders St Station & Fed Square - External.

I have actually done a review on this theatre on my Instagram account and also on my own podcast show which are called Mobility Access Australia Podcast and there’s also a couple videos about it on there too that I filmed when I went to see a show there a while ago.