Experiencing theatre in the dark
The promotional image for Another Sight.
A play, staged completely in the dark and performed by a cast composed of both blind and sighted actors, is making its debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year.
Brazilian theatre company Teatro Cego is running the show, titled Another Sight, until 24 August at ZOO Playground.
As director Paulo Palado explains,
“The company has been around since 2012. Teatro Cego (Blind Theatre) is a theatrical format where the play takes place completely in the dark, providing, through art and entertainment; a unique experience for the audience, inviting them to give up their vision and understand the plot through their other senses (smell, taste, touch and hearing).
"This immersive approach has social impact built into its DNA," Paulo continues. “The play has visually impaired actors in its cast, thus fulfilling a social role through art.“
Another Sight is the story of a maid and her boss who are undergoing cancer treatment at the same time. The two women are at different stages of the disease; the maid practically cured, and the boss starting chemotherapy. The relationship between these two women highlights difficulties that people from different social classes have when faced with this challenge, while understanding each other’s conditions gives rise to a friendship that will become the main tool in their struggles.
The Edinburgh cast features five actors: Ana Righi, Neli Gamboa, Flávia Strongolli, Paulo himself, and Edgar Jacques - the company’s only visually impaired performer in this run.
“Four technicians are also involved in the production of the show," says Paulo. "They are creating aromas, producing sounds and changing scenery. They all work completely in the dark."
Edgar, who has total visual impairment, brings a wealth of experience to the stage. “In addition to being an actor, he is a playwright and audio description consultant, and is involved in numerous activities and institutions related to issues of inclusion and accessibility.”
What makes the show stand out is its staging. The show takes place completely in the dark, and spectators watch the show from inside the stage and are right there with the actors. "In this way, every movement, every breath, every whisper works as a scenic element and can be felt and absorbed by the audience,” says Paulo.
Since its creation, Teatro Cego’s work has sparked action offstage as well as on. “When we started working with Blind Theatre, we never imagined that we would reach so many social segments. Nowadays, we give lectures at law, philosophy, medicine and theatre universities. The way the shows touch the audience led us to a partnership with the Dorina Nowill Foundation for Blind People, which set up a stand in the theatre lobby and made cornea donation cards available at the end of the show. According to the foundation, no advertising campaign has produced such a large, proportional result as the one carried out in partnership with Blind Theatre.
With the same play the group are presenting in Edinburgh, Another Sight, the company partnered with an NGO which receives hair donations and donates wigs to women undergoing chemotherapy, since the play addresses this very subject. Audience members were invited to donate in the theatre lobby.
Paulo says their productions give visually impaired audiences an equal footing with sighted theatre-goers. “This encourages us to produce shows that go beyond the theatrical aspect. A few years ago, we created a Blind Theatre workshop, with acting, body and voice classes for visually impaired people who wanted to learn the art of acting. Some of the participants became actors in our company and work with us to this day. We have plans to reopen this workshop permanently.”
“Our goal is to always combine theater with themes that promote inclusion and social equality. We believe that art is one of the most complete paths to achieving these goals. Since the show takes place completely in the dark, we chose not to use subtitles, but instead to have all the dialogue in English. This is our biggest challenge at the moment, but we believe that this way we will get closer to the result we hope to achieve.”
Another Sight by Teatro Cego is running at Venue 186, Playground 2 at ZOO Playground, until 24 August, 20:45–21:25.
