Welcome to our visual and written guide of our building, designed to help you find us and understand the process of visiting, whether for a show or to use the space. Below you will find:

Finding Hall for Cornwall
Lemon Quay Entrance – Green Room Cafe
Boscawen Street Entrance – Playhouse Bar
The Auditorium – Seeing a Show
During a Show
In Case of an Emergency

Finding Hall for Cornwall

Hall for Cornwall has two entrances. One is located on Lemon Quay by the Statue of the Tin Drummer. The auditorium is accessible from either entrance to the building, and during a show time, there will be plenty of box office and auditorium staff, as well as Volunteer Ushers around to help.

For more information on accessibility, please see our dedicated webpage.

For information on transport and arriving at Hall for Cornwall, please see our Visiting Us page.

The other entrance is located on Boscawen Street, by the Truro War Memorial statue. There are banners on the front of the building that read “Playhouse Bar” and “Hall for Cornwall” in capitals.

Lemon Quay Entrance – Green Room Café

For information on our opening times, please see our visiting us page.

On the Lemon Quay entrance, there are five arched doorways. The doorways at either end are Stage Door and the Loading Bay and are not open to the public. The three middle doors lead to the café. They all open automatically and have ramped access.

A photo of part of the Hall for Cornwall building taken from the Lemon Quay side. Three archway doors can be seen with 2 posters between. A chalkboard sign is on the ground outside, signposting the entrance to the cafe and box office.

This is the Green Room Café. There will be music playing, and it may be crowded or noisy in here if you arrive around show times. To look ahead to your visit and see which shows are available to book, look at our What’s On page, which lists shows in date order.

A photo of the Green Room Cafe taken from a corner on a wide lense. A series of tables and chairs are visible, as well as the entrances. Some plants and greenery are scattered about, as well as a few customers sitting at the tables. You can see the Box Office counter in the righthand corner towards the entrance.

Upon entering, on the left side of the café, you will find our pop-up Box Office counter and sometimes a Merchandise Stand. If there is no Merchandise Stand, there will be additional tables you can sit at. On the right side of the café you will see the café counter. Order hot and cold drinks and food here. Our front of house team can bring your order over to you after you have ordered and paid at the counter. Please note we only take card payments.

A photo of the Box Office counter, situated in the Green Room Cafe at Hall for Cornwall. To the right is a bench with stalls. To the left is the Box Office table, with a sign reading ‘BOX OFFICE’ hanging from the wall next to it. Someone is sat at the table serving a customer.

There are signs on the pillars ahead of you when you walk in to help guide you. The right-hand side sign is below.

A black sign on a stone pillar, written with Cornish translation underneath each line. It reads: LEVEL 2 BALCONY (with male, female and disabled toilets) and MAIN STAIRS straight ahead. LEVEL 1 CIRCLE (with male, female, and disabled toilets) and MAIN STAIRS straight ahead. LEVEL 0 STALLS straight ahead. GREEN ROOM CAFE, PLAYHOUSE BAR (cathedral side) right. BOX OFFICE (cathedral side) straight ahead, and male, female and disabled toilets straight ahead to your right.

Just past the Box Office, there is a set of grey double doors. Through the doors and directly in front of you is the lift, which will take you to the Circle and Balcony. The stairs are located to the right of the lift. If you need to use the stairs and require assistance, ushers will be around to help.

A photo of 2 opened grey double doors, revealing a lift on the lefthand side, and a set of stairs on the right.

There are three sets of grey double doors at the back wall of the café. Through the double doors on the far right are doors to all-gender toilet cubicles, a baby change, and an accessible toilet. The left and middle double doors lead to the auditorium and will open around 30 minutes before show time.

A photograph of 2 closed grey double doors, with the signs for toilets on them. Just behind the window in the doors you can see toilet doors.

Boscawen Street Entrance – Playhouse Bar

There are five large archways on this side of the building. The words “City Hall” are above them in black text. This is because, although Hall for Cornwall is here now, it used to be home to Truro City Hall, and elements of the architecture and heritage have remained.

The blue door in the right-hand arch is not open to the public. 

A photo of the Hall for Cornwall building from Boscawen Street, showing 2 stone pillars over a marbled floor. The wall behind is entirely glass, with two automatic doors either side.

The three central arches lead to a covered porch and the glassed front wall of the building, with a set of double doors either side. These are automatic. The left arch has ramped access from the pavement.

This side of the building is The Playhouse Bar. To access the auditorium, you can either go through the archways at the back of the room or through the glass door to the right. There is also a lift here up to the circle.

There will be steps or a ramp to go through.

The archways will open at least 30 minutes before the start of the performance.

A photo of the Playhouse Bar at Hall for Cornwall, taken from a corner on a wide angle lense. You can see the middle pillars forming a rectangular series of counters, with a bar on the back 3 counters and a Box Office counter on the front. There are a few tables and plants around, but it is a mostly open space.

It may be crowded if you are here around a show time, and there will be music playing. There is more space here than in the Green Room Café. This area is generally only open around 90 minutes before show time. The Box Office here usually opens 90 minutes before the show starts. The counter faces the front windows.

There are three bar counters around the central counter. You can order alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks here. There may be queues, and it may be loud. Please note we only take card payments.

If you are here to see a show, it will be staffed by member(s) of the box office team. If you have any questions, they will be able to help you. If you need additional help with your tickets, a member of the welcome team may lead you to the box office.

For some shows, we may have a breakout space set up in our DHL suite. You can come here to wait for the show or to take a break from the performance. When in use, it will be clearly signposted and is located to the left of Box Office.

A photo of a breakout space at Hall for Cornwall, situated in a small room. Chairs have been stacked and pushed against the wall, leaving space for beanbags on the floor. There is a table and chairs in the corner, where some arts and crafts pieces and sensory toys are placed. A screen can be seen towards the back.

On the left wall of the bar, there are ladies’ toilets in the round recess in the wall.

A photo of a small alcove into the wall at Hall for Cornwall, where a brown door sits on the right to the women's toilets.

 On the same side, there is a pair of double doors, with men’s toilets and a Space to Change inside on the left. The Space to Change has a hoist, accessible toilet and an adult changing table. There is an automated system that will speak to you and provide instructions on using the space.

Two photos, one on the left of some light wooden double doors with a male and disabled toilet, (space to change), sign on them. The photo on the right is of the space to change through the doorway, with a hoist table against the wall, and some bars to hold on to.

The Auditorium – Seeing a Show

30 minutes before the start of the performance, the auditorium will open.

There will be an announcement over the speakers with a trumpet sound, followed by a male voice to inform you that the auditorium is open.

“One and All, the Cornwall Playhouse Auditorium is now open for the performance.”

This same voice will also announce that the show is about to begin at 3, 2 and 1 minute before the show starts.

These are our volunteer ushers. They wear black clothes and will have lanyards and bags that say “HfC” on them.

A photo of a female Usher carrying a ticket scanner, holding it up to where a customer is holding her phone up. In the background are various audience members crowded and queueing in a bar space.

If you are seeing a show, the Ushers will scan your ticket. The scanner will beep to indicate your ticket is valid. If you cannot find your ticket, or it doesn’t seem to be scanning correctly, they will help you or direct you to the Box Office. Once your ticket is successfully scanned, they will direct you to the auditorium and can show you to your seat.

The Auditorium is a relatively large space, with just over 1,250 seats, 13 wheelchair positions and almost a hundred locations to stand to watch shows. It has three levels: Stalls (ground floor), Circle (first floor), and Balcony (second floor). Please be aware that it can get quite crowded around showtimes.

A photo of the Cornwall Playhouse auditorium, taken from the stage. The seats are empty, and you can see up to the balcony level.

Your ticket will have your seat number and row on it. Tickets can be printed or digital (known as e-tickets). Below is an example of a printed ticket.

A photograph of a printed ticket, with a barcode on the lefthand side and show information on the right, including the seat number, floor level, show name, date, time, price, and customer information. The Hall for Cornwall logo and Cornwall Playhouse logo are on the bottom of the ticket.

To find your seat, row letters are on the floor and at the end of rows. There are also more Ushers inside who can direct you to your seat.

Finding Your Seat

Seat numbers are on the floor between seats. The seats fold down and will spring up again when you stand. Once you have sat down, you may have to stand up again to let others through. Some seats are removable or have more space for wheelchair access.

A photograph of a seat in the Cornwall Playhouse auditorium from various angles. You can see the seat number plaque on the floor next to the feet. These chairs will flip-up when not sat in, and the image demonstrates this with one photo showing the seat down, and one up.

There are accessible toilets on all levels of the auditorium. In the Stalls and Circle, these are to the left of the stage if you are sitting facing it. In the Balcony, the accessible toilet is on the right. Access to all of these is at the front, behind the stairs.

There are standard toilets in the Playhouse Bar and Green Room Cafe, with standard toilets on either side of the Circle and Balcony. These may be male, female or all-gender toilets.

A photo of a light brown door to some of the toilets at Hall for Cornwall on the lefthand side of the stage, with stairs to the right of it also.

If you need to move from one side of the auditorium to the other, you can use the large walkway at the back, which we refer to as the Opeway, or “Ope”.

A photograph of the “opeway” that runs along the back of the Cornwall Playhouse auditorium on the stalls level. It is a long flat corridor, running along the back wall, behind the sound booth and seating.

You can go up to the Circle and Balcony using the stairways in the auditorium on either side, or the lift on the Cafe side, accessible from the Lemon Quay entrance.

An image of two photographs of stairs in the Cornwall Playhouse auditorium. One of the Balcony level stairway on the righthand side, with a door to the toilets towards the back, and one of the Circle level, with stairs that run up alongside the tiered seating, up to the back wall.

During a Show

Every show at Hall for Cornwall is different, but most shows start the same way. There is usually an announcement informing you of the rules regarding phone usage for that performance before the main lights go down.

It may get quite dark for a brief amount of time. You can expect stage lighting, music, and voices throughout. We do our best to put up signs around the building to highlight any content or effects that may be triggering.

Most shows have an interval, which is a 20-minute break in the middle of the performance. There will usually be a round of applause from the audience at the end of the first half, and then the curtain will go down at the front of the stage, and the auditorium lights will go up to signify the start of the interval. The interval is a good time to stretch your legs, purchase food and drink, and use the facilities. At the end of the interval, the lights will go down, and the curtain will be raised, much like the start of the show, and the second half will begin.

Once a show has finished, you can expect a round of applause, which some people may stand for. The cast will often bow to the audience, perhaps returning to do so a number of times. The lights will go up once the show has finished. You will then be able to exit from either side of the building. This may be a busy time, and you may have to wait for a few minutes for others to leave. Ushers will be around to help you.

In Case of an Emergency

In the rare event of an emergency, you will hear an announcement throughout the building. A female voice will say the following words:

“Attention Please, Attention Please, it has become necessary to evacuate the building.”

This alarm is loud to get your attention.

If a show is on, it will stop, and the lights will go up. All doors to the auditorium will open, and all staff will wear high-visibility jackets and guide you to the nearest exit. This will be whichever entrance is closest to your seat. It’s important that you remain calm and seek help from anyone if you need to.

You mustn’t try to use the lift during an evacuation. If the alarm is sounding, they will not function.

If you are using a wheelchair and are seated in the Circle, you will be evacuated to the stairwells, which are protected by fire doors. You will then either be evacuated using an Evac-Chair (a device that our trained staff can use to help you down the stairs), or be helped by emergency services upon their arrival.

We will always have staff in the building who are first aid trained and often have mental health first aiders on-hand as well.

We hope you enjoy your visit to Hall for Cornwall and that this guide has been helpful to you. If you would like to get in touch with us regarding this page, or if you have any feedback or a related query, please email us at [email protected].

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