London County Hall

County Hall stands on Belvedere Road, SE1 7PB, on the south bank directly opposite the Houses of Parliament. Waterloo, Westminster, Embankment and Charing Cross are all within walking distance; from Westminster you cross the bridge, which is the best approach for the view. The building is vast, so follow the signs for the performance entrance rather than the first door you reach.

Partly, and the detail matters here. A ramped entrance at street level and a lift reach the foyer, and a second lift goes down to the Courtroom Stalls. Only one row of stalls is step-free — row F — and that is where the wheelchair spaces are. Because there is a single accessible row in a listed building, say what you need when you book rather than on the night.

Give yourself a good half hour, and forty-five on a first visit. County Hall is an enormous civic building and the performance space is some way inside it, along corridors and staircases that were built for council business rather than for an audience. Once you are through, the wood-panelled interiors are part of the evening.

No formal requirement. Wear what you will be comfortable in; a layer is worth having, because a stone civic building holds the cold in winter and the rooms are not uniformly heated. Some people dress up for the setting, which suits it — but nothing here depends on it.

Not during the performance: no photographs and no filming once it has begun. Before and after, and during the curtain call, you may photograph freely — and the setting is worth it, since the room itself is part of the staging rather than a conventional auditorium. The corridors and the river frontage outside are the other obvious shots.

No, there is no cloakroom here, so please do not arrive with luggage or large bags — there is nowhere to put them. Since the building sits on a stretch of the South Bank most people reach at the end of a day out, it is worth thinking about before you set off rather than at the door.