IMAGINE HOW you would feel if you had to perform blindfolded on stage. Now imagine if at the end of the show you still couldn't see.
While the prospect is chilling for most people, actors Ricky Tse Wai-kei, 57, and Po Sun-yee, 63, take it in their stride. Having lived without sight since the early 1990s, both have developed a carpe diem attitude that allows them to do what most of us who can see fear: act in public.
The pair, who trained in drama at the Hong Kong Blind Union, are protagonists in Waiting For Ming Kwong. The production, organised by the Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong, was first performed last April and is to be staged again, on May 17, for the public (performances on other days are for primary school students). The story revolves around two blind people, Ah Ming (Tse) and Ah Kwong (Po), and their different perceptions of light.
Ah Ming is a middle-aged man who loses his vision after getting married, while Ah Kwong was born blind and is thus comfortable with the dark. Tension arises from Ah Ming's attempts to impress upon his friend the belief that bright light (ming kwong) is the key to happiness.
Although Tse and Po receive assistance from director Indy Li Chun-leung, who helps them rehearse their scenes (sometimes physically guiding them to their positions around the stage), Tse and Po have also had to rely on their own initiative to prepare for the play. 'I am unable to read, so have had to listen to a taped script many times to memorise my lines,' says Po. He has one tape with both characters' dialogue recorded and one with only his own lines so if Tse misses a line by mistake and cannot provide any cues, Po is confident of being able to continue without skipping a beat.
The logistics of moving around the stage are partly helped by tubes that form guiding 'paths'. Voices, props (a chair, perhaps, or stacks of newspapers in the middle of the stage that symbolise a well) and music also help the actors map out their locations.
Tse, a former advertising executive who lost his sight at the age of 44 due to retina degeneration (which also caused Po's blindness), expresses himself on stage by, among other things, the noises he produces. 'Detached from visuals, sounds alone can allude powerfully to emotions,' he says.