The Improv Conspiracy Theatre | Comedy Shows & Workshops in Melbourne, Australia

The good news re: wheelchair accessibility

As of 2023, some of our workshops and performances are held in a wheelchair accessible venue.

Theory Bar is located on the ground floor of 19-23 Meyers Place and is wheelchair accessible, including an accessible toilet.

Wheelchair accessible performances

Most weeks we host Sunday accessible performances at Theory Bar. These come in two flavours:

Premium shows: once per month we offer a rotating selection of premium shows which are normally held upstairs at our primary theatre, whose producers are happy to offer a bonus performance in the name of accessibility.

Community-oriented shows: on most other Sundays, we host a more casual evening of improv comedy featuring up-and-coming talent via our Rotating Tap show.

Indie/student teams with performing members who use wheelchairs, or with friends and family who use wheelchairs, will be prioritised for performance opportunities in Rotating Tap

Please check our performance calendar for upcoming accessible show dates. The calendar tool allows you to filter by accessible venues.

Wheelchair accessible workshops

We occasionally run an accessible version of our improv free trial session on Sunday mornings at Theory Bar. However, the schedule for these sessions is irregular.

We frequently hold some of our paid 8-week improv workshops at Theory Bar. These usually take place during the following time slots:

Monday evenings, 6:30-9:30pm
Tuesday evenings, 6:30-9:30pm
Saturday early afternoons, 11:30am–2:30pm¹

¹ Many of our existing students who use wheelchairs prefer this time slot, so we try to rotate which course offerings are scheduled in this slot. As our terms go for 8-weeks, it may take some time before your preferred course is available at this time and venue.

Please check our Class Finder² for availability.

² The class finder allows you to filter by venue. If you have access requirements, please set the filters for our Theory Bar spaces. The front room should remain accessible, even for very large class sizes. The back room has less room to navigate a wheelchair, so you may wish to enquire about class sizes before booking – we can send you some photos of the space if you'd like.

Wheelchair accessible student showcase performances

All of our 8-week improv classes conclude with a celebratory performance. These are typically held upstairs, but we will gladly schedule yours downstairs at Theory Bar if you have an accessibility requirement. Please disclose this in your student intake form.

Additionally, there is some wiggle room to schedule other student showcase performances downstairs, specifically to benefit potential audience members with access requirements¹. However, this needs to be flagged with us during the first week of a course term, as our schedule is built far in advance. By the time we've announced a showcase date and tickets have started to sell, it is too late to change it.

Please note – we have a standing policy of scheduling all accessible performances near the beginning of the day (Noon, 1:15pm, etc.), so we can convert the space back into a bar for post-show celebrations

The bad news re: wheelchair accessibility

Limitations of taking classes at Theory Bar

As you may have gleaned from the information above, there is only one guaranteed accessible classroom for 8-week classes, and only one of its three available weekly time slots is during daylight hours.

This can limit the number of students with accessibility needs we can accommodate any any one time, especially as we offer different class levels. Due to these constraints, at this time we are only confident in our ability to offer our Improv Starter Track classes at Theory Bar – Starter 101, 201 and 301.

This means that we explicitly do not have an accessibility plan for our Improv Performance Track at this time, nor the in-house performance ensemble audition opportunities which that track feeds into. As previously mentioned, Rotating Tap is our primary accessible performance opportunity, and students of any experience level or access requirement are welcome to perform in that show.

We ask our students to watch four improv shows at the theatre during their 8-week course, but as we only offer accessible performances on Sundays, this can be difficult for students with accessibility needs to achieve. Whenever any student struggles to watch their four shows, for any reason, we are happy to relax the requirement and assign alternative viewing – typically online through Youtube or Netflix.

Our other venues

The majority of our other workshop and performance offerings are at our other two venues, which are worse for accessibility. We know and empathise with the fact that some students find it disappointing to hear from other students and community members about all of the shows and workshops they've been attending at the other venues.

The Improv Conspiracy Theatre is right above Theory Bar at Level 1, 19-23 Meyers Place, but is only accessible via a staircase, with further stairs up to the toilets.

Our Training Annex is inside of the Nicholas Building, at Room 502 / 37 Swanston Street. The venue itself is accessible via lifts, but the toilets in the building require the use of the stairs. Some impacted students have reported success using services like Travellers Aid to locate appropriate accessible toilets nearby.

Other accessibility concerns

For accessibility concerns relating to workshops, our Education Director is happy to devise modifications to our course curriculum to make it more inclusive for your specific requirements. If you'd like to discuss before booking, please email us. However, during the course checkout process you will be given an opportunity to let us know about any specific classroom needs you'd like to share.

For accessibility concerns relating to performances at our upstairs theatre, please email us and we will do our best to accommodate your needs. While our ticketing is general admission, we can generally help you liaise with our venue staff to arrange a specific type of seat for you – perhaps in the front row, or along an aisle.

Accessibility at TIC Events