Teaching a Blind Stage Manager

Working with DJ was certainly an experience. It took me some time to realise that his world was not only different to mine, but that this was a function of his world view. DJ definitely didn’t want to go into the blind ghetto. Quite properly, he had been led to believe that nothing was impossible, and that his approach was as valid as anyone else’s. Ideologically I supported that position (and still do) however I believe both of us are now older and wiser, and would now want to form a more reasonable judgement of the reality of his situation.

DJ had come from the Blind School at Hereford, and had qualification in music technology. Using sound mixers was well within his range of experience. He was also blessed with a lively and jokey personality (He introduced himself to the year group by standing up and saying “My name’s DJ and I’m the blind bastard”). He has some peripheral vision, with which he can read very large print, but it is tiring. His peer group initially forgot this, particularly on one occasion the morning after a party when the girls got changed in his room, thinking he had no vision. Higher education broadens the mind in many ways.

At the outset, with little knowledge for either of us in terms of precedent, I had to decide first the extent to which stage management exists in the visual realm. Clearly there are elements that are to do with a visual aesthetic – conversations with designers, choosing props and arranging the stage in a neat fashion were going to be difficult. There would be areas where a lack of vision may have made for safety issues, and that the stage manager would be responsible. I decided that welding, because of visual judgements associated with hot metal, was off limits. Other areas we got round by ingenuity. My colleague in Costume worked out that using a sewing machine was possible by using strategically placed blobs of Blutack. Technical drawing was out, but model-making was possible by using a modified scale rule, using blobs of glue to make Braille distance markers, and notching the edge of the rule to give the finer gradations.

The ghetto-ist response would be to “just do the sound” – the theatre equivalent of being a piano tuner. We decided this was too limiting, and our ‘contract’ would be to take it on an experimental basis, and find out what the problems would be. My reasoning was that most management happens in a team setting; and that DJ would need to develop a sense of what he could offer to the team as his contribution; while plainly there would be elements which it would be better if they were done by someone else.

Other health problems confused the picture somewhat, disrupting his learning for some time. One big impact was recognising that the strong discipline he had worked under at the blind school was no longer there. Like any slightly rebellious adolescent he kicked his heels up, and spent some of the time dossing around, and as a result missed some of the opportunities. The other part of the mindset was that he found it hard to admit that he didn’t know how to do some thing, or that he needed help. This became compounded with the need to prove himself. At times some of the decisions were scary – testing whether the standard lamp he’d bumped into and overturned was still intact - by touch – is OK until one gets to the bulb end.

I learned by the exchange too: particularly the extent to which visual signals are important in managing people in delicate situations. Visual impairment doesn’t disable from management situations, particularly those which are one-to-one. However, a stage manager needs to be able to walk into a rehearsal room and gauge the situation in very short order. This evaluation is based on a ‘reading’ of visual signals, usually at an unconscious level. It is a complex picture of body language and spatial positionings, as well as reading the dynamics of any discussions and debate. Similarly, evaluating the full impact of stage drama requires an appreciation of the totality of the experience, in any reasonable qualitative approach to the work. Under a social model this is disabling, but it is intrinsic to the situation.

Using the learning support worker was interesting. Most of the time Ian was on hand, and became part of the team. Which team? Well, sometimes staff, sometimes student team, and there were times when he felt his loyalties were split. A musician by trade, at one point he enquired about joining the programme, since he’d already done most of it by proxy. Given the lack of specific workers in the area, I came to the conclusion that it would be good to offer the job to a peer on the course rather than an ‘outsider’. While there may be issues of whose work, and of workload, in the end the issue of teamwork would then be embedded in everyone’s learning process.

DJ tried a number of options. He tried event managing, where he did get some way down the line. His phone skills were great, and he could, of course, read situations really well. He tried running the prompt book, using a learning support worker to update the cues, and a Braille printer for the final copy. It was sort-of OK, but not the best equipment, or the best process. Other students used his sound knowledge, and he was useful in this area. He did his placement with a disability theatre company, who criticised him for making allowances for himself. As a general manager he wasn’t that great; other students both supported him and criticised him for a perceived laziness, some of which was real. Some, I think, was a cover for a growing realisation that the whole theatre management system had been designed for a sighted community, and that is was a lot harder than he’d ever thought it would be.

In the end we parted friends, and he was grateful for his Third, and for the breadth of the education he’d received. It seems to me we are a long, long way from a fully integrated industry, and that the best we can hope for as yet are way markers along the road. Of course I would take another V.I. student, and I don’t think I’d change that much along the way, except the advice and counselling. I’d have much more to tell them.