Where
The Vault Festival, Studio at The Vaults, Leake Street Tunnels, Waterloo.
When
11-16 Feb at 7.20pm. Running time 1 hr.
Who
Written by Amy Bethan Evans, directed by Elske Waite, produced by Amy Toledano. Performed by Charlotte Eyres.
What
Tinted is a revolutionary disabled response to the #metoo hashtag. Staged as accessibly as possible and written by disabled playwright Amy Bethan Evans, Tinted is the debut full-length monologue from Scripped Up, championing D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent writers.
How
Charlotte Eyres – in her professional stage debut – depicts the character of Laura, who is blind but very independent. She appears very young in a child’s onesie, and she collects vintage My Little Pony and Teletubbie toys. In a large space with just one prop, a wooden chair, which she nurtures almost as a friend and support in its own right, she shares snippets from her story with us.
When there is music, she dances, and sometimes also tries to talk, but there’s too much of a conflict because you’re not sure which sound to concentrate on. When there is just Laura’s voice, Tinted is at its strongest.
At other times we hear her voice and she listens to it, too. Or she talks directly to us, about consent, about childhood, about those aspects of life you cease to notice when you are in possession of all your senses.
In the discussion of #metoo, Laura discusses her perception of sexual excitement from what both her mind and her body, and invites us in to consider whether there are in fact grey areas relating to consent when you can’t see what is happening to you. Is it OK to proceed when your partner can’t see what is going on?
Aside from this was a scene vividly recalled of Laura being left behind on a bus by her friends, leaving her disorientated and anxious. Another of her mother reaching for her arm to help her cross the road, “and I screamed, because I didn’t know it was her”. Things that are simple, but that we might not get, because we have our sight.
Eyres gives an intensely physical performance, her movement directed by Sarah Lamb, and each step and squat thought out in detail. In Evans’s text, Laura discusses disability in a matter of fact manner. stepping back and inviting the audience watching this play to make up their own mind about the boundaries of consent.
Judgement – Wow, Meow, or Furred Brow?
A Wow for Tinted. Well-written and performed, and a timely addition to the #metoo debate.