I had the privilege of attending the production of “BindWeed” at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester, and I must say, it was a profoundly moving experience that left a lasting impression on me. The show tackles the harsh realities of domestic abuse, shedding light on the experiences of both men and women, and does so with an intensity and sensitivity that is both rare and commendable.
From the moment the play began, the acting by the entire cast was on a whole other level. Each actor brought their character to life with such depth and authenticity that you couldn’t help but feel their emotions. The pain, fear, hope, and strength of the characters were palpable, and the interactions between them were charged with raw emotion. This level of performance drew the audience into the story in a way that was both immersive and impactful.
One of the standout elements of “BindWeed” is its exploration of the session leader’s background. Her history as a former police officer with the Met Police added layers of complexity to her character. This deep dive into her past provided a nuanced perspective on her motivations and the challenges she faces, both professionally and personally. It was a brilliant narrative choice that enriched the overall storytelling and provided valuable insight into the broader context of domestic abuse support work.
The studio setting at The Mercury Theatre offered a simple yet intimate atmosphere that was perfectly suited to the show’s themes. The minimalist approach allowed the focus to remain squarely on the characters and their stories. The lighting design was equally effective, with its simplicity enhancing the mood of each scene. The darker lighting in certain scenes heightened the tension and underscored the gravity of the situations being depicted.
Photo: Will Green
In terms of accessibility, the auditory elements of the performance were particularly significant. The dialogue was clear and well-articulated, ensuring that the story could be followed without visual cues. The emotional weight carried by the actors’ voices conveyed the necessary context and depth, allowing all audience members to fully engage with the narrative.
“BindWeed” is more than just a play; it’s an important piece of theatre that shines a light on an often-hidden issue. The Mercury Theatre’s production does justice to this difficult subject matter through exceptional performances, thoughtful storytelling, and a production design that prioritises the emotional journey of its audience.
If you have the opportunity to see “BindWeed,” I highly recommend it. It’s a powerful, intimate exploration of domestic abuse that will leave you with a deeper understanding of the issue and the people it affects. This is theatre at its most compelling and transformative.
This show is very much for all, so as a result is massively accessible. Even though there are no accessible performances for this show, which is of course a little disappointing. I feel as if you don’t really miss out on a whole lot without Audio Description as the cast do such an amazing job! But I wouldn’t be me, If I didn’t say it would have added more to make the show even more accessible.
I thoroughly enjoyed ‘BindWeed’ it is by far the best show I have seen so far this year within the local theatre circle. Tickets are quickly running out, but if you can get a ticket for this show I can highly recommend it! Everyone from cast, crew and all backstage did an amazing job!
‘BlindWeed’ is running at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester until 22nd June 2024! For more information please do check out The Mercury Theatre website by clicking here!
Content Warnings For This Show Are: This performance contains swearing, violence, blood, misogynistic conversation, reference to domestic abuse, coercive control, rape and sexual assault, reference to murder and suicide, and references to children obtaining and sharing pornography.
Hi everyone! Back with the third review of the month, and this one is exciting! I have been a huge Harry Potter fan since I was a child! So when I heard this show was gonna be a thing. I’ve been trying to get tickets for this show for years. But now I finally managed to get tickets for an access performance of ‘Harry Potter And The Cursed Child’!
The show is set nineteen years after the original series and continues the story. It follows the adventures of the children of the main characters as they attend Hogwarts. Along the way, you’ll also see some familiar faces from the original series, as well as some new ones. While it’s not necessary to know the original story, it can certainly enhance your enjoyment of the show.
It’s important to note that the show we attended was split into two parts. Part One was performed during the afternoon or a matinee performance, while Part Two was performed in the evening. Both parts were shown on the same day, which meant we had to stay overnight in London. However, it was definitely worth it, and I’ll explain why in more detail.
For the access performance, a touch tour was organised in the afternoon before the first part. Upon arrival, we were required to have our bags checked by security. The theatre ushers greeted us warmly and guided us to the auditorium and then onto the stage. Since the show was quite popular, there was a large group of us participating, which made it a little difficult to get around and see everything. However, the cast and crew were very knowledgeable and more than happy to answer any questions we had.
After the touch tour, we checked into Premier Inn Leicester Square hotel, which was located just a five minute’s walk from the theatre. This made leaving and returning for each performance very easy. We watched Part One of the show and after it ended, we had an hour and a half break to find something to eat. However, we found this time to be insufficient and suggest bringing your own food. Unfortunately, eating inside the theatre is not allowed, but there are plenty of benches and seats nearby where you can enjoy your food.
After having dinner at the hotel we then went back in for Part Two. Same as above, bags got checked etc and we sat in the same seats as Part One, The theatre will put you in the same seats if you are seeing both parts the same day if possible.
I watched the show and both parts were amazing! As a Harry Potter enthusiast, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The lighting and colour usage was great, and the visual effects in both parts were astonishing! Some of the scenes left me puzzled as to how they pulled it off. The Dementors were my favourite, as they flew around the stage and the audience. The sound, atmosphere, and ambience were also used brilliantly, making me feel completely immersed in the show.
In terms of accessibility, with it has been Harry Potter this show is incredibly visual, so if you have Low Vision or Useful Vision then as long as you sit slow on the stage, Row D or closer you should have no real problem, but going to the touch tour beforehand is a very helpful attention.
If you are totally Blind or have No Useful Vision. Then I think it goes without saying that having an Audio Description during the show is a must! You struggle to hear the Audio Description due to the loud sounds and effects of the show in parts. But overall Vocal Eyes did a very good job. It is worth turning up thirty minutes early at least to collect your headset and to make sure it’s working correctly before the show starts, along with listening to the introduction if you wish to.
I think after reading this whole review. It goes without saying, that this show is definitely a must-see! Whether you like Harry Potter or not. It truly is a brilliant show and really takes you on an emotional journey.
‘Harry Potter & The Cursed Child’ is currently running at The Palace Theatre in London. To go ahead and purchase tickets, to find out more information about access performances or to find out more information about the show you can find all that by clicking the link here.
Hi everyone, back again with another review! This month is very much a month of theatre so there’s at least one more to come!
If you haven’t already read my recent review ‘The Importance Of Earnest’ then I will leave a link for you here.
Moving on to the review, I recently had the opportunity to watch ‘Self-Raising’, which starred Jenny Sealey. I must say that this is one of the best plays I’ve seen in terms of accessibility, and that’s saying something considering the amount of theatre reviews I’ve done over time.
The story is a summary of Jenny’s life and family. She talks about the history of her family and her childhood. The story has some happy and sad moments and takes you on a full journey and rollercoaster.
The accessibility measures provided at the performance were the best I’ve ever seen. They had everything covered, including live audio descriptions, personal and live descriptions, live captioning, sign language interpretation, and photo descriptions through audio played through speakers for the entire audience. Additionally, a free large print booklet was provided, which detailed different elements of the show and included content warnings.
Before the show fully started both Jenny and her interpreter described themselves in full! What they were wearing, and how they looked. They then went on to describe the very simple set. Jenny then goes on to tell her story. To explain her story, she shows the audience different family pictures. After each picture is shown, the picture is shown on the screen in a much bigger format and then described to the whole audience in great detail. Even though I don’t often use Audio Description, as I have some useful vision I found this extremely useful which was a lovely surprise.
The story was very enjoyable, and at times I could not help but feel for Jenny when she would describe situations that she found herself in. Having everything described only added to the story.
I must say that this show is a must-see! Jenny and her team have taken into consideration all forms of disability and have made sure to accommodate as many disabilities as possible. I was highly impressed with the amount of accessibility that was available to everyone. Additionally, there was a table outside after the show that had copies of all the photos, some props, and Jenny’s costume used in the performance. They couldn’t have done anything more to make this show accessible to everyone!
You really must go and see this show! It is running at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester from Friday 8th – Saturday 9th March, but is on a national tour of the UK! Trust me when I say, get tickets for this show! Tickets for The Mercury Theatre can be found by clicking here. If you would like more information on the national tour, however, then you find out information by clicking the link here!
Hello everyone, and welcome to the first theatre review of the year 2024! It’s great to see another year of theatre performances starting. To kick things off, I recently watched ‘The Importance Of Being Earnest’ at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester.
I was excited to see this play as it is based on a popular book with a worldwide reputation. The plot revolves around two men, one of whom lives a double life under a different identity. This leads to a complicated love triangle between the characters.
I first need to say that the cast in this show was amazing and had a real passion for the material. It was also really clear from the show that the direction and style of the show wanted to stay very true to the original text, which I preferred.
The use of simple settings and staging, along with effective contrast, helped to make it very clear to distinguish between each character. They all had a unique sense of fashion and style that added to their individuality. The great use of colour was visually pleasing and added to the overall experience. Each character had a distinct way of speaking, making it easy to understand who was talking to whom and who was on stage at any given time.
The lighting used in the show was simple yet effective in illuminating the entire performance. I appreciated this as there was not a single moment where I had difficulty seeing what was happening on stage. The only instances of darkness were at the beginning and end of each act, which did not cause any significant problems.
I have always struggled with the different types of language used in some plays for example Shakespeare’s plays, and there was a few elements in this play too. However, the comedy throughout the whole show fully made up for this.
The story itself I had never done at school so was not aware of this play or book before seeing this show. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this production from start to finish. The story was engaging and compelling, and the cast did nothing but add to this. It had everything you could want. A love triangle, death, comedy, betrayal, secrets. It has it all. It was great to see a predominantly female cast apart from the two male leads which I don’t see very often it was great to see and something which should happen more.
I think in terms of accessibility then, if you have some useful version. You will love the great use of lighting, scenery and colour. Along with amazing costumes. If you would like an up-close look at this, then I would recommend sitting in the centre of row D which is pictured below. If you limited to no vision. You will still get a great deal out of this show. There are of course some visual elements you will miss but there is an audio-described performance available along with a Touch Tour, to get even more up close and personal with the cast and set of this outstanding show.
You really would not go far wrong in getting a ticket for this outstanding show. This has been put together brilliantly in the only way The Mercury Theatre can. If it can go on tour I really think it should. Let the rest of the country get to see how good this first-class show is!
‘The Importance Of Earnest’ is running at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester from 7th – 16th March 2024. Go and get your tickets by clicking the link here!
So I thought I would try something different and new, and talk about one of my favourite past times which only the people closest to me know and that’s that I enjoy playing video games!
It all seemed from when I was a child and we got a PlayStation 1! I loved it, and I would go on it any chance I got! Before and after school and at the weekends. I would only really play football and wrestling games because I found them the easiest to play. But once I had got older around thirteenth or fourteen I would want to play more story-driven games. I had heard of this game called ‘LA Noire’ a story-driven game where you play a 1930s detective and go around solving crimes and Los Angeles! I loved finding all the clues and interviewing all the suspects, then charging them with the crime!
But some somethings were very challenging because of my visual impairment. For example, when finding the clues at each crime scene, because they weren’t lit up or glowing, only an audible chime and my controller vibrating, it was always a little hard to find the right item to pick up. There were also more action-packed moments like car chases and shootouts. Now I am awful at driving in video games even today, but now I don’t mind it so much because I just find it fun when I crash into something if I’m not in a car chasing sequence, But If I am in a car chasing sequence when I would find incredibly frustrating that I would keep crashing all the time until the game would pop up with a prompt that said ‘Would you like to skip this section?’ and I would nearly always say yes and lets not even talk about the number of times my character would die because an enemy would shoot me. After all, I couldn’t see them as the area was so dark.
These days of course technology has progressed so much since that game was released. Sadly it’s only in the last couple of years that more and more video games have become more and more accessible to people with a visual impairment, but there was this one game that had started it all, and that is what I am going to talk about…
Back in 2020, when the world had decided it was going to eat itself, a game company ‘Naughty Dog’ were just about to release their newest game that fans of the franchise had been hotly anticipating called ‘The Last Of Us Part 2’. Now I had heard of this gaming franchise before and had heard great things about the first game, but because I was an Xbox gamer for most of my childhood and early adulthood I had never had the chance to play the first game. However, a lot of blind and visually impaired people on Twitter including some big names, were singing this game’s praises for the amount of accessibility they had put into the game not just for blind and visually impaired people but for all people with a disability! So I started following this game online and started watching some videos on YouTube about it. But it wasn’t until ‘Naughty Dog’ released a trailer for the game talking about the accessibility features that they had added to the game, I watched it, and thought to myself, “Oh okay, they mean business then”. So a few months after the game had released I went out and bought a PlayStation 4 bundle that came with the game (as well as some other games I had been wanting to try). Took it home, set it up, and the first game I downloaded onto it was The Last Of Us, and within the first thirty seconds I was blown away! So let’s watch about one this game was so awesome!
To start, even before you get to the main screen, you are greeted with accessibitly options you can turn on a tweak, for example, a screen reader, and options to change things like text colour, and type of text so whether or not you wanted the medium or large text, what colour you wanted the HUD (Heads Up Display) to be! Along with all this you had various combat options available e.g. when you grabbed an enemy could they escape you, or when you go prone you have the option to either be seen by enemies if you go near them, or after a certain time, or not at all! This sort of setting is amazing and something that has never been done in video games before. There were even presets for different disabilities e.g. ‘visual aids’ or ‘motion sickness’ as well as alternative controls for people with physical disabilities! I am going to focus on settings for people with a visual impairment, but if you have other disabilities I will link ‘Can I Play That’, they are an amazing website that reviews video games for people with disabilities by people with disabilities so they are worth checking out!
So when playing ‘The Last Of Us – Part 2’ you have several accessibility options available to you. As the game is semi ‘Open World’ with a lot of places to go and explore, you can get lost quite easily, so the first feature I want to talk about is ‘Navigation Assistant’ which when walk about the game gives an audible tone in the direction the game wants you to go, it is worth saying however that it is best if you wear a set of headphones whilst using this feature as the audio will be in the direction you need to go. There are also audio cues if there is something in your environment that you can pick up, this can be anything from supplies such as a health kit, or some alcohol to a collectable such as a firefly pendant or note.
I talked about changing the HUD earlier on, well it turned out that this ended up being a fundamental feature for me, because I chose the colour yellow (other colours are available) I was able to easily see things like my health bar, how many bullets I had left in my gun, what weapon I was holding at the time, along with button prompts when I could pick things up or had to mash buttons together during a certain cutscene or a ‘Quick Time Event’ where you have to press buttons in a certain order to progress. There is also the ‘HUD Scale’ which allows you to make the icons of the HUD on the screen either bigger or smaller. So if you need to make certain icons bigger if are far away from your TV or even close to your TV you can do so which I found a great help. Inducing the crosshairs. which I found helpful when shooting enemies as I was able to see more easily where or what I was shooting.
One of the accessibility I found I was using the most was ‘High Contrast’. This is where the area or game environment is greyed out, and the only visible thing is the character you are controlling, the enemies you are facing, and any items you can pick up. These proved to be my saving grace during certain areas of the game because there are some areas in ‘The Last Of Us – Part 2’ where you either have to sneak around or fight enemies in almost complete darkness aside from a red flare, fire light or moonlight. Another helpful thing ‘High Contrast’ does is highlight certain things to avoid. Whilst playing the game at some point you have to avoid walking into these wired trip mines, which if you do will explode and kill you. But because they were in long grass, they were in real struggle to see, even some sighted gamers said they struggled with this part of the game. But because I had ‘High Contrast’ on I was easily able to avoid them.
The game has a ‘Text-To-Speech’ option available both in the menus and their HUD. Along with the audio prompts and the audio navigational directions you can play this game even if you are completely blind! Unfortunately, there are no Audio Descriptions within the cutscenes of this game, but a remake has recently come out of the first game made completely from the ground up including all the accessibility features of the second game along with Audio Descriptions for cutscenes! Which I found so amazing when I played it recently, and it made the story that much more real and heart-wrenching! But sadly that game is only for PlayStation 5, but to my delight a Last Of Us Part 2 Remastered has just been announcedset to be released in January 2024!
One thing I wanted to mention, isn’t necessarily an accessibility feature within the game but a feature when you decide to pay for PlayStation Plus, Sony’s subscription online service which allows you to play online with friends as well as some other benefits. Within that subscription is a feature called ‘SharePlay’ which allows a sighted friend to see your screen, and even control the game should you wish them to. Whilst playing ‘The Last Of Us Part 2’ I had a close friend in my headset telling me important information I needed to know, for example, if I had missed an important health kit I needed because I was about to die, or if in a combat situation where all the enemies were, and where they were walking so I knew where to go to able to avoid them. Although, sometimes I did want to just have an old-fashioned shootout just for fun, die, and then try and do the encounter again all stealth-like! Not only was this extremely helpful but also a lot of fun, as we got to go through and experience the game and story together. Which we continue to do with other games to this day!
Because of ‘Naughty Dog’ and the amount of time and dedication they put into making sure that anyone can play their game no matter who they are or what difficulties they face, many people including myself have fallen in love with a hobby that I loved when I was a child again. The sense of achievement.when I completed the ‘The Last Of Us – Part 2’ and now ‘The Last Of Us’ remake. I can play something which I thought I would never be able to do again. Now, the amount of love I have for this franchise and that studio, words can not describe it!
If after reading this post, (and if you have well done) it has made you think ‘You know what I might give this a go?’ then honestly go for it, you won’t regret your decision at all!
I know I normally give a rating in terms of accessibility so here it is, if you are blind or visually impaired, can you play this game? YES! Yes, you can! I hope you have as much fun as I did!
Yesterday I was kindly invited by The Mercury Theatre in Colchester to see Run Rebel.
I opted to go to the matinee performance which I felt turned out to be a good decision as the atmosphere seemed more relaxed and informal. There were two schools in the auditorium which was a little distracting for me but in some scenes really added to the emotion of the performance with all of their reactions. This was highly welcomed and I felt was a nice change.
Run Rebel is produced by the same company that also put on the show Noughts & Crosses, which has seen numerous awards since. I was somewhat excited to see this after enjoying their previous show, and I wasn’t disappointed.
The show tells the story of Amber, a teenager who feels trapped on one side by her family and the expectations of her father and on the other by her love for running and her dream of one day representing her country. There is tension as her father feels she should give up on her dream and follow the traditions of the household but the love of running and the will to follow her dreams is too strong a siren’s call for Amber to resist. Within this show is a strong use of Amber’s mental health and also of her family life, with everyone scared of her father due to domestic violence.
But once Amber learns about the French Revolution in her history lesson, she encourages her family to revolt against her drunken father.
This is very much a welcome change for me, as these are subjects aren’t spoken about enough in todays modern world, especially by teenagers. It was great to see school children at this show, and I really hope they took something from it.
The cast were brilliant, I could really feel the emotions from all of them incredibly well. Jessica Kaur did a fantastic job playing the character of Amber, along with narrating the story to the audience. The chemistry behind all the cast was palpable, especially between Pushpinder Chani who played Amber’s father and Jessica Kaur as Amber. During their scenes together, I truly felt like they were indeed father and daughter. This really made me feel I was watching professionals at work!
On to the accessibility; the main issue was a strong use of harsh or minimal lighting. Most of the performance it was either one or the other, which on occasion made it very difficult to fully see what was happening. At times when Amber was talking to the audience she was lit by a spot light so she was easy to see but there were other scenes where the characters were washed out by the lights, so it was a little difficult to see. Also in a number of scenes especially when Amber was at home with her family, the stage would be very dark so I found it difficult to see what was happening.
As I was in row E this time, if I were to go and see the show again I would pick either row D or ideally C, as they are much closer so I would be able to see much more.
On the plus side however, the use of action scenes was low. Most were just some of the actors running up and down the stage or running on the spot, but with the spoken dialogue filling in the exposition. This is a great addition as then you really aren’t missing out on anything for about ninety percent of the show. The only scene you do miss out on is the more physical/fight scene towards the end as that isn’t really described in detail, but I feel like I can forgive them for that.
As a result, the story flowed really nicely and I was able to understand what was going on really well, and missed very little. My own tiny gripe is that I don’t think microphones were used during this performance? This would have been helpful in certain places, as I found that in some of the scenes I struggled to fully understand what some of the cast were saying. So maybe in future shows this is something that could be added?
There are no access shows unfortunately according the Mercury’s website. I would assume this is due to Run Rebel having a short run at The Mercury. However as this show is going on tour around the UK, hopefully if they have longer runs at other theatres this is something that can be added in the future.
Finally then overall, I feel it really doesn’t matter if you are a blind or visually impaired theatre-goer as I think you are going to get something out of this show, whether you are young or old. As I said, Run Rebel is touring so go grab yourselves a ticket!
I think this is an important production as there is so much merit in the huge amounts of discussion on mental health, as well as the scenes of domestic abuse and violence.
A ‘Content To Consider’ document has been created should you feel that the show may possibly be triggering for you so if you are interested and would like to know more, I will link it for you below.
Visit The Mercury Theatre’s website to find information on tickets and more!
Run Rebel is running at The Mercury Theatre from Thursday 2nd March until Saturday 4th March 2023, but is on tour at the follow dates and venues:
The VI Critic 