Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary follows the rehearsals and performance of an original play being performed by blind actors. The video reveals brief snapshots of the performers in rehearsal as they memorize their lines, learn choreography and interact with other cast members. There are also glimpses of the performers at home and interviews in which they briefly discuss the difficulties of being blind and how the condition has affected their lives. (Many of the cast members were not born blind, but have become blind during adulthood.) There are some particularly poignant scenes with one of the older cast members who admits that he fights depression and has had thoughts of suicide as a result of his blindness.

Scenes in the video are presented with no commentary. The camera captures the events but no extra information is provided to the viewer. The only voice-over on the video consists of audio-description, a process in which the action on the screen is described out loud so that blind people can experience the visual images. Perhaps the audio-description precludes the possibility of having more narrative explanation of the scenes, but the lack of commentary weakens the documentary considerably. The video would benefit from more information on how the theatre project was conceived, who wrote the play, who provided the main support, and how the participants were chosen. Also, the absence of narration allows for no analysis of the process and precludes commentary on whether the performers and program facilitators felt that the process was worthwhile. It would also be nice to know the participants’ thoughts on the project’s effectiveness, ways it could have been improved, and whether they think the project should be tried again. In other words, the video provides a little information on the “where” and “who” of the project, but doesn’t delve very deeply into the “why” or “how”. There are so few videos dealing with this type of subject matter that it’s unfortunate this one misses so many opportunities to provide context and information.

The video seems to be geared toward an audience interested in issues surrounding blindness and drama therapy, and may work well as a vehicle to spark further discussion. In order to be used effectively in this way, however, it would have to be presented by a professional already well-versed in these issues. Unfortunately, since the video is sorely lacking in context and analysis, I cannot recommend it for a general audience. Although it deals with a very worthwhile topic, this video falls short of its potential.