Monica Nelson never went to live theatre before she began to lose her eyesight about 25 years ago.
She has gone to movie theatres in recent years, where “it’s OK if your partner or friend whispers to you (what’s on the screen). It doesn’t really disturb people, because it’s loud.”
But with live theatre, a silent audience is expected.
Two years go, she received an invitation to The Miracle Worker, a play by Vancouver Playouse Theatre Company about deaf-blind author and political activist Helen Keller.
The show included, in the one performance that Nelson went to during the show’s run, the first participation of KickStart’s (The Society for Disability Arts and Culture) VocalEye, an audio description service for blind theatre-goers.
Wearing an earpiece linked to a transistor radio-sized closed-cirquit FM receiver, Nelson learned what was going on in between the dialogue.
Photo: Using a masked microphone, Rick Waines of VocalEye quietly describes to blind patrons the action in a theatrical play at the Surrey Arts Centre. Credit: Boaz Joseph / The Leader
The experience led her to purchase tickets for several shows in Vancouver over the last two years.
“It’s fabulous,” she said after a recent show. “They’re trained to describe things in more detail than your friend would have time to do.”
Recently, the Surrey woman went to the first local VocalEye-serviced show at the Surrey Arts Centre, the Arts Club Theatre Company’s performance of Don Quixote.
“We loved the idea, and were so impressed with the quality of the service that we jumped on board,” said Barb Wolfe, Surrey Arts Centre’s performing arts programmer.
The audience included eight blind patrons and three guide dogs.
In the 15 minutes prior to the show, they heard live audio descriptions about the play’s, set, props, characters, costumes, masks, program notes (credits) and the plot synopsis.
There’s no time for such descriptions during the show’s action, said Nelson, who added that knowing what the actors are wearing adds to the experience.
During the show, the live play-by-play began as Rick Waines, standing in the back with his masked microphone, quietly described the setting and actions to his private audience.
Waines, one of VocalEye’s four trained describers, said the key to providing the best experience – “When I’m feeling more poetic about it, I’m translating light into sound” – is to learn the script well and to speak concisely between they actors’ lines.
Their choice of words is also important.
They must do their best to help patrons laugh when the rest of the audience does (a tricky thing with physical comedy), and to not interpret for their audience. They might say, for example, that “John lowers his head and frowns” rather than “John is sad.”
At the end of the Jan. 28 performance of Don Quixote, the VocalEye crew and Surrey Arts Centre staff took the patrons, for the first time in any show, on a Touch Tour.
Photo: VocalEye’s Eileen Barrett gives blind patron Monica Nelson a hands-on feel of a mask used in the play Don Quixote during a Touch Tour at the Surrey Arts Centre. Credit: Boaz Joseph / The Leader
It allowed the blind to come on stage and feel the masks, costumes, armour and props – including Don Quixote’s hobby-horse, the character’s substitute for his “knight’s” horse.
“I couldn’t visualize that, even though it was described to me,” Nelson said.
For more information or to reserve equipment for upcoming shows, visit www.vocaleye.org, call 604-364-5949 or email info@vocaleye.org
Upcoming VocalEye shows
• The next show with VocalEye live audio description at the Surrey Arts Centre (13750 88 Ave.) is Circle Mirror Transformation on March 3 at 4 p.m. For tickets, call 604-501-5566.
Upcoming shows at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company (127 2 Ave. East):
• Hunchback, March 2 at 8 p.m.
• God of Carnage, April 27 at 8 p.m.
For tickets, call 604-873-3311.
Upcoming shows at the Arts Club Theatre, Stanley Stage (1585 Johnston St.):
• Calendar Girls, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m.
• The Importance of Being Earnest, April 8 at 2 p.m.
• High Society, June 3 at 2 p.m.
• Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Aug. 5 at 2 p.m.
For tickets, call 604-687-1644.
bjoseph@surreyleader.com
