Stage play gives blindfolded audience a different view
Audience members will be immersed in the world of those with limited sight for a new play about visions, with the lead role played by a blind actor
Not seeing is believing
Tiresias is based on the ancient Greek character of the same name. Caught peeping at the naked body of Athena as she bathed, his punishment is to lose his sight. At the same time, Athena enables him to see into the future.
“This production is about the difference between ‘being blind’ and ‘not being able to see’,” explains writer and director Rudy Goes, who has a blind son and is afflicted by an eye illness himself, limiting his sight over time. So it’s no surprise he’s always been intrigued by the rare combination of Tiresias’ blindness and clairvoyance.
The extraordinary features of the main character, clearly different from his peers, are somehow typical for the type of plays that Theater van A tot Z likes to initiate, giving their audience – both teenagers and adults – the chance to look at society from another perspective.
No barrier
Theater Van A tot Z developed from a merger between the Vilvoorde-based theatre group Fast Forward and the Educatief Theater Antwerpen. Their joint focus is youngsters and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. That’s why their participative theatre pops up not only in cultural centres but also in schools and socio-cultural organisations.
For Tiresias, the audience will be immersed in the world of the blind. Eye masks will be handed out, and audio description will help people understand what’s happening on stage, to intertwine the world of the blind and the seeing. Blind actor Pol Verest is assisted by musical actor Anne Van Opstal and Gregory Van Damme, who featured in the youth TV series Amika.
Verest lost his sight in 1978, four years after he graduated with a teaching degree. But it didn’t hold him back. He found a job as music teacher and is the driving force behind the amateur theatre company tejater RESTANT.
“Being blind is a disability, but nothing more than that,” he explains. “Some people can sing, some can’t. Some people can see, I can’t. It has a considerable impact on my life, but it doesn’t have to be a barrier.”
In Tiresias, he proves he’s right.
Until 22 May, across Flanders
Photo, from left: Cast members Anne Van Opstal, Pol Verest and Gregory Van Damme
