EDINBURGH 2012: BWW Reviews: THE BLIND, August 3

A lone seagull glided across the dark grey sky and squawked, breaking the silence that existed for a short minute in the epic setting of Edinburgh’s old college quad. This moment of calm betrayed the chaos and noise which was about to erupt as the first show of The Blind got underway.

For a show that is billed as 'a performance without words' noises are all pervasive. From the props which are clattered around with an intense ferocity to the almost continuous soundtrack of evocative classical music played out of the speakers, quiet is at a premium. This was an aspect I found disappointing as blindness naturally leads one to rely on your ears as a main sense but this was not pertained to in the production, instead the reliance was on loud noise and lots of it.

The noise was matched (and through much of the performance created) by the energy of the cast. The format of the performance is such that there is no one point your attention is drawn to meaning every actor has to be constantly performing and they did just that. It is an exhausting show to be a part of as either an actor or audience member. Standing for an hour in the open air of an Edinburgh evening helps to heighten the stress and discomfort of the grim material of this show. Light-hearted entertainment this is not; I’m saying that having been lucky enough to attend on one of those rare things – a dry evening in Edinburgh.

The crowd occupies all three sides of the performance space, protected from the action by little more than metal railings. For the majority of the show it makes little difference where you are situated but the major set pieces are directed towards the section of the audience that were facing the minimal set.

I have not read the book which inspired this work and can therefore not comment on whether or not it is accurate to the source material’s story but the image it paints is bleak. The basis of the story sounds like an interesting idea and a different way of exploring the effects of catastrophic changes to society. The production itself felt as though it never moved on from violence once it had arrived there. As in almost anything about the breakdown of civilisation, might becomes right.   

My gripes with the story are not where the focus should be; after all this is PHYSICAL theatre (and I mean that capitalisation) with lashings of dance. It is daring and exciting; a spectacle in the true sense of the word. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, I don’t think that’s the point of such a show (if it were they wouldn’t have it outdoors in Scotland) but I was entertained.  

 

Photo Credit: Karol Nowakowski

 

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