I am often asked the question by sighted
theatre-goers, what’s the
point of going to a live show if
you’re blind and have no hope of seeing anything?
But recently, I experienced an audio-described
musical for
the first time in my life and I am truly hooked. The difference it
made to my
enjoyment of a live show was immense, thanks to a small group of
dedicated audio-describers
from Vision Australia.
Flower Children: the story of the Mamas and Papas
Being vision-impaired since the age of fifteen,
I have
always held a particular fondness for musicals. I enjoy nothing
better than to
pump out harmonies along with my music idols. But as a person with
a
degenerative eye condition, Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), I have to
rely on my
sighted companions to keep me up to speed with the happenings on a
theatre
stage or movie screen.
We often risk annoying those people around
us who
haven’t noticed my folded white cane and turn to tell us off for
whispering
during a show. So I sit back in my seat, feeling somewhat annoyed
to be missing
the visual cues and hope at some point, the show will begin to
make sense to
blind eyes.
I had heard of the audio description services
from Vision
Australia for some time but had never experienced it. So when I
received an
email alert that the musical, Flower
Children: the story of the Mamas and Papas was coming to the
Comedy Theatre
in Melbourne and was being offered as an audio described show, I
knew I had to
call Janene Sadhu, the Melbourne coordinater of the
free service at Vision
Australia.
What happened next was a real eye opener.
Janene sent me an email with a detailed
description of the
costumes and stage props, everything that a sighted person would
see on the
night of the show. I read it through with my computer software for
the blind
and it was like having my own private ‘viewing’ before the
performance. The
notes painted a vivid picture:
“Papa John, played by
Matt Hetherington, is a man in his early thirties. He is
approximately 6 foot tall,
and of medium build. He has brown eyes, short brown hair and
sports a beard...”
On the night of the show, my partner and I
rocked up with
great anticipation. Friendly volunteers from Vision
Australia
greeted us and
gave instructions on how to use the portable radio receiver and
off we went to
find our seats.
Using the device with ear-phones was as easy as
singing
along to California
Dreaming and for
the first time in my theatre viewing life, I could keep up with
the whole
story. The clear voices of the volunteers speaking through my
ear-phones
brought the entire show to life. I was laughing (and crying) at
the gestures
being described, understood who was coming on and off the stage
and imagined
the colourful descriptions of the shifting props on stage.
At one point, my partner leaned in close to
describe a scene
but before he could speak, I grinned with eyes alight, and said,
“I know!”
Encore!
Did this sensory experience get any better? It sure did.
After the performance of the Flower Children, Janene had organised a tactile tour
with the stage
manager so our blind group could see through excited hands the
props and feel
some of the costumes worn by the actors. While we sat up on stage
on the same
steps used in the show, Matt Hetherington (Papa John) came to join
us and we
launched into a happy rendition of one of the show’s hit songs.
I am so grateful to Janene and her dedicated
group of
volunteers from Vision Australia who gave up their time to
organise and
describe the Flower
Children
performance in Melbourne which has sparked a renewed love for live
theatre – I
can’t wait until the next show. Bravo!
**
“Blockbuster Musicals, Operas, Comedies,
Ballets, Dramas and
more. The Vision Australia Audio Description Service is set to
deliver over 75
audio described performances across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane,
Canberra and
Wollongong in 2013.” To find out about the upcoming shows for
2014, visit:
http//www.visionaustralia.org/audiodescription
This story
first appeared as
a published article in 2013 as a news feature on the national
website of
ArtsHub Australia under the title 'Theatre through blind
eyes'
© 2013 Maribel Steel
