An intimate experience to stimulate the senses of touch, sound and smell.
I walk down two steps into a dimly lit room. A chair stands in the centre. Two people follow me in. I open my mouth to speak and they both raise their fingers to their lips; a request to remain silent. I follow.
One crouches and touches my shoes. She then points away to where I notice two pairs of shoes neatly placed beside the step. I sit down on the step and remove my shoes and socks and put them alongside. The second woman gestures towards the chair. I walk over and sit down. She stands in front of me and puts a mask over my eyes. I wait.
Then, in my left ear, I hear a whisper; a poem. The voice moves in front of me, then moves away, becomes louder, softer, closer, further. I feel a breeze against my face. I smell oranges and rosemary. I listen.
Behind the poem I notice music. The poem ends. The music become clearer. A waltz perhaps. A feel the touch of hands on mine. They pull gently to lift me. My partner is dancing and I follow. Under my feet I feel grass. I smell grass and the brush of silk against my neck and arms.
We dance until the music comes to end. Someone slides my mask up and away. One smiles and gestures to my shoes.
Performers: Taragh Bissett, Adela Bevan
Poetry: Murray McGrath
What is it Like?
by Murray McGrath
What is it like to be inside
This all containing tough old hide?
Looking out at what you’re seeing
Knowing you’re a human being
With the whole world in your head
And doing, if you’re not mislead
What’s proper and the thing to do
The things that say to us it’s you.
But what if unexpectedly
You realised you couldn’t see?
Would the whole world disappear?
Would you curl up petri ed with fear?
Or could you tell that still around
Through touch and taste and smell and sound The world with it’s acerbic charm
Survives and will not come to harm
Where you and I can taken our place
And represent the human race
With friendship, dignity and fun
Vision’s there since time begun.
Photo by Artyom Kulikov
