In between two bright, colourful disco balls, performer Jasmine Thein presented her show I Dream in Colour to Underbelly Bristo Square’s Friesian theatre at the Fringe.
Thein is a captivating performer, and her one-woman show is a truly lived-in, vulnerable and realised insight into her experiences as a fully blind, neurodivergent creative. It spans across her stage persona, “Sophie’s” life, and aims to consider the idea of autonomy and what this means for someone with disabilities. In the show, she discovers that she has retinoblastoma – a rare eye cancer in which removal of the eye is a common treatment.
The show fluctuates between the present day and flashbacks to her upbringing. She attended a strict Christian school, then went to the University of Cambridge. The simple set design works effectively at putting Thein’s tour-de-force of acting centre stage, and you really feel like you are sitting in the classroom with her. I did feel that perhaps the school experiences lingered on a little too long, with not a strong enough connection with the present-day segments, although the scene transitions were excellent.
Once Thein draws you into her world, you are fully immersed. The show portrays the difficulty for a blind person to undertake simple tasks such as booking an Uber, which many able-sighted people take for granted.
Her set-piece recreations of ableism witnessed on the tube are brought to life by an aptly recorded soundtrack, which was used for sound effects and other characters, such as her boyfriend or parents. Thein emphasises that even though she uses a white cane to navigate, she is constantly offered seats on the tube, a testament to various forms of ignorance regarding disabilities: “I can still use my limbs!”. It was well-staged and captivating; the directorial decisions make Sophie’s encounters feel as real as they do poignant.
At its core, the struggle to attain autonomy in a harsh and unforgiving world is Thein’s mission. The leitmotif of colour is an uplifting centrepiece, reflecting a glimmer of hope to be found when all seemed lost for Sophie. Colours are used to describe connections to other characters, and even though Sophie cannot see colours, Thein paints a sense of her colourful existence: “words give me colours.” All in all, the show is a successful autofiction that will linger with you long after the lights come up.
Image provided by Storytelling PR to The Student as press material.