We are committed to making our websites accessible.

This accessibility statement applies to all of Shakespeare’s Globe’s websites, including shakespearesglobe.com, basket.shakespearesglobe.com, player.shakespearesglobe.com, and shop.shakespearesglobe.com.

Compliance status

These websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliance(s) and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content outlined in this section has been reviewed in April 2025, and will be continually reviewed as part of our quarterly auditing program. We are continually working towards the goal of making all our content accessible.

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reason(s):

(a) non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• Form Controls, Links, and Buttons: Some of our form controls (like buttons and text entry boxes) lack accessible names, labels, or legends, making it difficult for screen reader users to understand the purpose of these controls. Some form control elements are not accessible to keyboard-only users. Some links and buttons use non-descriptive text like ‘Click Here,’ making it challenging for screen reader users to understand their purpose. In order to fix these issues, we are working to ensure that we have provided unique and descriptive labels for links and buttons across the site, and we are working with external web developers to introduce accessible ARIA attributes where necessary.

This relates to  WCAG 2.2. Success criterion 1.3.1 info & relationships, 4.1.2 Name, role, value, and 2.4.4 Link purpose (in context). We will resolve this by August 2026.

• Contrast and Visibility Problems: Some areas of our site have insufficient contrast between text, background, and borders, which can hinder readability for visually impaired users. We will adjust colours to meet minimum contrast ratios, and ensure that we have provided visible focus indicators for interactive elements. This relates to WCAG 2.2. Success criterion 1.4.3 contrast (minimum), 1.4.6 contrast (enhanced) and 1.4.11 Non-text contrast. We will resolve this by August 2026.
• Content and Media Issues: Some of our media content has problems with alternative text (for images), captions (for videos), and the overall structure of content. We are working to improve alt text across the site. Please see (b) disproportionate burden and (c) content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations, below, for more information about our video accessibility. This relates to WCAG 2.2. Success criterion 1.1.1 Non text content, 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (prerecorded), 1.2.2 Captions (prerecorded), 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (prerecorded) and 1.2.5 Audio Description (prerecorded). We will resolve this by August 2026.
• Semantic Markup and ARIA Roles: Our sites use various non-semantic HTML elements, with missing ARIA roles. This makes it hard for assistive technologies to understand and navigate web content. We are working with web developers to improve this. This relates to WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.3.1 info & relationships and 4.1.2 Name, role, value. We will resolve this by August 2026.
• Animations: It is not currently possible to switch off our animations. We will add an option to disable animations. This relates to WCAG 2.2. Success criterion 2.2.2 Pause, stop, hide. We will resolve this by August 2026.
• Unclear focus order: In places, the focus order on our site is illogical, and therefore people who use only a keyboard to navigate may have a confusing user experience. This relates to WCAG 2.2. Success criterion 1.4.3 focus order and we will resolve this by August 2026.
• Target=_blank: On our website, some links open in a new tab without warning. We will ensure that all links opening in a new tab are labelled clearly. This relates to WCAG 2.2. Success criterion 3.2.5 Change on request. We will resolve this by August 2026.

(b) disproportionate burden

• Videos: Many of our videos don’t have captions or audio description available. The process of adding captions and Audio Description (AD) is time-consuming and expensive. As we have such a large number of videos, we will work on to add captions and audio description over a longer period to ease budgetary and staff time pressures.
• We are exploring options to add features like captions and AD in retrospectively, and we are committed to ensuring that all new video content will be fully accessible. However, this is a sensitive process that cannot be completed quickly – we don’t want to rush it as we believe it is very important to get it right. Lots of our videos include extracts from Shakespeare, which can be very complicated to make accessible due to how unique and complicated the language can be. Some of our videos have Shakespeare translated into other languages or alphabets such as British Sign Language or Mandarin. We are currently exploring the best ways to make these fully accessible, too.

(c) content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

• Marketing videos: We do not currently have plans to make our marketing videos (such as teaser trailers or rehearsal videos) available with Audio Description. They are non-essential parts of our webpages. However, we are committed to ensuring that closed captions are available on every video.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 8 July 2025.

It has been prepared in accordance with guidance set out on the UK government website (opens new tab), and in conjunction with a full review of our website accessibility conducted by Accessible by Design (opens new tab).

The statement was last reviewed on 8 July 2025.