Acting Blind

The members of the cast gather several nights a week. They are in heavy rehearsals for an upcoming performance at the renowned Place des Arts in Montreal. The actors struggle with their lines and work out blocking as the director praises them and chides them to go further into character. The play they are staging, blind, is the story of several blind characters negotiating their way through the tricky emotional and physical maze of life without sight. Most of these actors understand their roles extremely well. Most of these actors are either blind or visually impaired.

Acting Blind is a touching film about the making of Dancing to Beethoven. The film takes us deep into the lives of the actors. We hear stories of their shock and disbelief at first losing their sight and of their struggles coping with the terrifying world of blindness. We hear them talk about grieving and pining for the visual world and about their hope and resignation in the face of an often difficult reality. They tell the moving story of how this play is itself a victory, a type of salvation, for each of them.

By opening night, they are a close-knit cast, well-honed and ready for the stage. They wait for the curtain to rise, for their turn to step from the wings out into the light.