The Language of Blindness and its Rapport with Sight: Immersive Descriptive Audio and Rainbow On Mars

Abstract

Rapport defines a certain kind of relationship, one that is not close. Rapport, in other words, defines the closeness and relatability that a relationship should have. This article engages the question, can blindness and sight develop a rapport? It is this question of rapport that animated the 2021 Pop-Up workshop of my play, Rainbow on Mars with Toronto immersive theatre company, Outside the March. The question of building a rapport was not only asked of the entities/characters Blind and Sight but also of the theatre itself and of its audiences. How might blindness and sight come together in the theatre in such a way that does not simulate blindness (blind folds, absence of stage lighting, etc.) nor privilege sight (audio description through headsets for blind patrons only)? This article explores the building of rapport between blindness and sight through the play Rainbow on Mars and the development of, what I call, Immersive Descriptive Audio.