Paulo Palado’s pitch-dark production opens up possibilities by putting unsighted and sighted in the same position
In the intimacy of a blacked-out theatre, the smell of freshly made coffee, cheap perfume and stuffed peppers becomes more pronounced. The weight of each character’s footsteps become recognisable.
Welcome to the Blind Theater from Brazil, where every scent is a prop, and an actor’s breathing and tread are their character’s signatures.
Before their Edinburgh fringe show begins, the blind actor Edgar Jacques briefs the audience on what to expect when they enter the entirely darkened space. It is a fringe first and will be an unusual, perhaps unsettling experience, he warns the sighted.
Sitting in pitch dark will “reach your other senses, and use your other senses. You will listen to things, you will smell things and maybe things will touch you, like the wind or maybe the rain.”
