I saw a play performed in the dark at the Edinburgh Fringe back inn '98. It was about an hour long. They had to warn audience members not to attend if they were claustrophobic. They had guides lead people to their seats, so no one had any idea what as going on. As well, the sounds they produced with props were all throughout the audience. So the audience was surrounded by sounds from the play. They were all done by hand - no mics. It was astonishing. At the end, they brought up dim lights and you could see how they produced the sounds and even the actors. Freaking amazing.
I like this. Did you ever have a problem with a director doing it "in the shadows" rather than in complete darkness?
Not in any production I've seen, but then again, who knows?
It's a lot of fun. My pal Ato wrote a couple of plays in the dark, too.
Are Ato's plays published or available anywhere?
I saw a play performed in the dark at the Edinburgh Fringe back inn '98. It was about an hour long. They had to warn audience members not to attend if they were claustrophobic. They had guides lead people to their seats, so no one had any idea what as going on. As well, the sounds they produced with props were all throughout the audience. So the audience was surrounded by sounds from the play. They were all done by hand - no mics. It was astonishing. At the end, they brought up dim lights and you could see how they produced the sounds and even the actors. Freaking amazing.
His short plays, no... but BLACK THANG has a scene in blackness, and it's published, part of Martin Denton's best plays collections, 2002, I believe.