By Chantelle Johnson

Low income families with young people with special needs are urging for more opportunities for their children.

Mousetrap is a theatre education charity which aims to take disadvantaged young people to the theatre to experience the arts.

On Tuesday 22^ndof January, they organised a visit to Shaftesbury theatre to watch the west end play Motown the Musical.

The cast of the play performed a relaxed performance to benefit those with an autism spectrum condition or learning disability.

This also included a change in the production with the lights in the audience being up.

Director of the charity Susan Withington, chose the play because musicals are best received by the children and their families. She said that: “They love the music, the dancing and the set”.

The purpose of the relaxed performance is to give disadvantaged children and their family a chance to enjoy the show without feeling the pressure or strains of a normal theatre show.

The children are able to walk around, and make noise freely.

She said that: “it’s the same performance that you would normally get but the difference is everyone is so relaxed”.

The charity is independently funded and relies on grants and donations to maintain its services.

It runs 20 different programmes in an attempt to create pathways for disadvantage children, allowing them to access the theatre.

The programmes are run by professional theatre practioners who run various workshops across the year.