Following its sell-out run at the Donmar last year, the acclaimed sound installation Blindness has toured across the UK and transferred internationally

From May – July 2021, Blindness toured to seven venues across the UK:

from 28 May Oxford Playhouse
w/c 7 June Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
w/c 14 June Theatr Clwyd
w/c 21 June Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford
w/c 28 June Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
w/c 5 July Eden Court, Inverness
w/c 12 July Lighthouse, Poole

The socially distanced sound installation has also been one of the first events to be staged indoors in several other countries since theatres closed due to the pandemic in March 2020. International transfers so far include:

Royal Theater Carré, Amsterdam
Hong Kong Arts Festival
Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.
Teatro Insurgentes, Mexico City | in a Spanish-language version with Marina De Tavira as the voice of the narrator
Auckland Writers’ Festival
Daryl Roth Theatre, New York
The Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto
Galway International Arts Festival

Coming up…
Adelaide Festival 2022

BLINDNESS

With the voice of Juliet Stevenson
Based on the novel by José Saramago
Adapted by Simon Stephens
Directed by Walter Meierjohann
Sound Designers Ben and Max Ringham
Designer Lizzie Clachan
Lighting Designer Jessica Hung Han Yun
Production Consultant Professor Hannah Thompson
Resident Assistant Director Sara Aniqah Malik

Blindness is based on the dystopian novel by Nobel-prize winning José Saramago, adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Walter Meierjohann, with a stunning recorded performance by Juliet Stevenson as the narrator/doctor’s wife. It opened at the Donmar in August and we were one of the first UK venues to reopen temporarily to the public with COVID-19 safety precautions in place.

★★★★
‘The Donmar Warehouse has made stage history as the first playhouse here to open its doors…Brave? Yes, and even better, with a brilliant production.’
New York Times

‘Artistically and technologically pioneering… Stevenson relays the story with her usual impeccable verbal poise.’
Daily Telegraph

‘An exquisitely told story of resilience, violence and hope.’
Guardian

During the installation, visitors listen on headphones to this gripping story of an unimaginable global pandemic of infectious blindness– and its profoundly hopeful conclusion – featuring an immersive sound design using binaural technology by Ben and Max Ringham.  Each venue will be reimagined by designer Lizzie Clachan and atmospheric lighting designed by Jessica Hung Han Yun, with the creative team working remotely to bring the installation to life from over three thousand miles away.

Photos by Helen Maybanks