Blind Hamlet

By Briony Rawle

Writer Nassim Soleimanpour is determined rid the theatre of actors, directors, staging and scripts. His last production, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, which ran internationally last year, did away with directors and staging, but still relied on actors to read out his script. Given, there was only one randomly chosen actor in each performance, and that actor had never seen the script before, but actors there were. In Blind Hamlet, however, he has managed to eliminate actors too, using a recording of his own voice, a stage manager as a kind of compère, and members of the audience called onto the stage. It can be done.

As you can imagine, the piece is unusual and experimental, but far from alienating. Soleimanpour is a likeable, charismatic narrator, and as the audience is the star of the show it is impossible to feel like an outsider. Much of the play is comprised of a series of audio recordings ostensibly made during his stay in Moscow when doctors were trying to save his failing sight at age 33, and when he was reading Hamlet for the first time (probably one of the last books he would ever be able to read). In them he tells stories about his personal history, and muses on sight and seeing, and their relationship with truth. His description of blindness is very moving, and inspires incredible gratitude for this sensory miracle that we take for granted.

But far from being simply a worthy piece about disability, Soleimanpour’s writing bubbles with his sense of fun and his love of games. He orchestrates games between the audience members onstage, mischievously making them giggle with his un-British insistence on familiarity between strangers. After a shocking revelation about Soleimanpour by the stage manager, the audience is invited to play a game of Assassin (which resembles Wink Murder), and instantly become performers with a spontaneous narrative. Although this is an interesting experiment with the definition of theatre, it makes the play sag a little towards its end, and when the game is over the show ends in a slightly opaque and unsatisfying way.

Although Soleimanpour’s musings never quite make it into any real conclusions, this can be forgiven in the quest for a different way to do theatre. The piece is engaging and thought-provoking, with a warm attitude of honesty and inclusiveness. A welcome change for those looking for a break in their Fringe experience from costumes, set, actors, and all the usual theatrical trappings.

Blind Hamlet

Assembly Roxy @ 14:50 (1hr 5min)

Actors Touring Company (@ATCLondon)

★★★

@PostScriptJour

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