Blind Picnic: An exciting and terrifying evening of short audio

With live music by Steve Wickham (Waterboys), ‘Blind Panic’ is an exciting and terrifying evening of short audio theater thrillers performed in the dark by a cast of 25 blind people from three counties (blindfolds are optional).

‘Ash’ (Sightless Cinema Meath) takes place during a thunderstorm in a ghostly country resort guest home.

Laura discovers in ‘The Visitor’ (Sightless Cinema Laois) that her new home has a horrifying past.

The hilariously humorous mystery ‘Horse with No Jockey’ (Sightless Cinema Tallaght) is set over a blind weekend.

The final performance of the evening is ‘Are You Blind or What?’, a live radio drama featuring music and sound effects performed by all three ensembles.

Sightless Cinema has exhibited seven unique surround-sound play programs since 2015.

These have been shown in the Lighthouse Cinema, IMC Cinema, and most recently, the Solstice Arts Centre Navan in January.

Additionally, they have created the phone comedy Ballymuck Exchange and the web comic The Covid Tapes.

People with sight loss collaborate on audio theater through Sightless Cinema.

Ciarán Taylor, a theatrical director, founded it in 2015.

The project expanded significantly in 2023, giving blind and visually impaired persons local arts possibilities and collaboration with other Leinster groups.

In a groundbreaking partnership, South Dublin, Meath, and Laois County Council Arts Offices created the Sightless Cinema Network with partner venues in each county and financing from the Arts Council’s An Invitation to Collaborate Scheme.

The Sightless Cinema project has been based at Rua Red Arts Centre, Tallaght, since 2017.

In 2022, Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, launched in-person projects, followed by Portlaoise in 2023.

In November 2023, the three companies will tour a collaborative production of recorded and live audio dramas to Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, on November 18, Civic Theatre, Tallaght, on November 23, and Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise, on November 28.

To further grow, the organization is educating new collaborative theater artists.

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