BLINDA
A sensory adventure for audiences...
BLINDA
Mon 16 Apr 2012 to Sat 22 Jun 2013
Step off the street, and into a darkened room. You can hear someone breathing. Maybe it is your own breath. You can sense someone moving. The ground beneath your feet feels strange. You are not alone.
BLINDA is an exchange between audience and performers. Your actions are reflected back at you, and resonate outwards in ways that are both familiar and strange. You are no longer a passive observer of others. The distinction between yourself and strangers dissolves…
BLINDA takes its cue from Dostoyevsky’s novella The Double, in which a man walks down the street and sees someone who looks exactly the same as he does. As a consequence of this his life changes forever.
We invite you to look into a mirror and lose sight of yourself – to disappear. And when you return, things might have changed. The world is not quite what it seemed, and the needs of strangers are the same as yours.
Appeared at
Volcano @229, Swansea 16-28 April 2012
And Chapter, Cardiff 12-22 June 2013
Directed by Paul Huw Davies
Design by Guðný Hrund Sigurðardóttir
Movement by Catherine Bennett
Featuring
Stephen DONNELLY
Donna MALES
Brent MORGAN
Rachel Helena WALSH
"In Blinda myself and Guðný wanted to create an environment in which an audience could find and forget themselves. To do this we have created a darkened room. We hope that this is an exciting and not terrifying prospect. We have also created another space in which the role of vulnerability is reversed – the actors and the audience offer themselves, an exchange takes place. This is Blinda. Blinda is an exchange between the audience and the performers. In the first instance you the audience will find yourself in unfamiliar circumstances. You are vulnerable but you can enjoy this vulnerability, you can find yourself even in a very dark room. And when you open your eyes you might see that things have change, the world is not quite what it seemed and the needs of strangers are the same as yours..... Blinda is about reversibility and doubling. It is possible that it takes its cue from Kafka’s short story – The Double. There the hero walks down the street and sees someone who looks exactly the same as he does. As a consequence of this his life changes forever. We are less dramatic than Kafka but nevertheless we invite you to look into a mirror and realize that for a short space of time you will not see yourself, you will see nothing, you will have disappeared. This could be a joy because after all nobody is more sick of you than yourself. In Blinda you have the chance to change. The other idea that the audience might encounter in Blinda is the notion of reversibility - what you do now will in turn be done to you, all experiences fold back into you and resonate outwards from you in unimaginable ways..."
