STORIES IN THE DARK
An exploration of sight, story imagination, dreaming and memory…
Come with us into the unmapped terrain of stories told in absolute darkness, shot through with enchantment, transformation, things lost, things found, grown-up fairytale and weird myth.
Through workshops, conversations, performances, experiments, and working with individuals with lived-experience of sight-loss, we’ve been exploring the relationship between words, story, memory and the imagination. We wanted to know how the imagination operates when your ability to see is impaired, is lost, or has simply never existed. We’ve been building access to our events for audiences with sight-loss, and helping our artists become fleet-of-foot, when adapting their work for visually impaired audiences. The project started with stories told via telephone conference-call to Macular Society members during the Covid lock-downs. And it has culminated with Stories-in-the-Dark shows – performances of stories which use absolute darkness as a place of parity for all audiences regardless of their state of sight.
WHAT'S ON
'absolutely mesmerising - it felt like we were all together on some big undertaking'
AUDIENCE MEMBER
'magical - I just loved it'
AUDIENCE MEMBER
Stories-in-the-Dark toured to regional libraries across autumn 2025 and spring 2026, engaging brand new audiences with libraries, storytelling, live arts, and ideas around how our experience of the world is mediated by our sense of sight. In some locations as many as 55% of the audience attending the performance had never been in that library before, and in 60% of our tour locations the show was attended by people with visual impairment who had never encountered storytelling before.
Throughout this long-running project we have collected insights into what changes when sight is lost from those with first-hand experience. We heard about loneliness, navigation fails, loss of connection, loss of agency, and changes to how the world is and is perceived. These experiences are as diverse as the people who make up the Visually Impaired community, but some common themes emerged. Intentionally silent, this film was created to communicate some of these experiences to the sighted.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- Will it be dark? Yes! The performance space will be completely dark.
- How long is the show? The show will last approximately 75mins.
- Will I be admitted if I’m late? No. Latecomers cannot enter the space because that would let the light in and disrupt the show.
- Is it for children? No – this is an event for adults aged 18 or over.
- I’m scared of the dark / I suffer from claustrophobia. Should I come? No – you wouldn’t enjoy yourself.
- I’m visually impaired. Can I come? Yes! This show is for everyone regardless of your state of sight. Guide dogs are also welcome but bear in mind that they will also be required to sit in complete darkness for the show duration.
- How will I find my seat? Our team will allocate you your seat and guide you to it. Should you have any concerns or specific access requirements please speak to a member of the team before entering the hall.
- Can we take drinks in? No and we recommend that you don’t drink alcohol before the event. That way, you can keep your wits about you and you’re less likely to need the bathroom during the show!
- What if I need or want to leave? If you feel unwell, or need to leave the event, we will have staff on hand to help you. As you enter the space you’ll be given an LED tea-light. If you turn it on during the show, a member of staff will come to find you and guide you out of the space. You won’t be able to re-enter the event once you have left.
- What about phones? Please turn your phone off before entering the space, and please resist the temptation to check your phone during the show – even to check the time – because it will light up the space and spoil the event for others.
the Performers
Ben Haggarty is Artistic Director of the Crick Crack Club and one of the UK’s most popular contemporary performance storytellers. Renowned for his playful, physical and often challenging performances, his repertoire spans fairytales for grown-ups, Greek and Irish mythology, the epic of Gilgamesh and contemporary myths of Frankenstein and The Sandman. Ben will be telling Stories in the Dark with some superb guest storytellers, including Steph Brittain and Sarah Liisa Wilkinson.
Sheema Mukherjee absorbed North Indian classical music and the western tradition side-by-side, studying sitar and Indian classical music under the tutelage of her uncle, the late Pandit Nikhil Banerjee and then with the late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Today she is an established sitar player and composer; a regular in Transglobal Underground; a key member in The Imagined Village project and a formidable collaborator with internationally renowned artists from many genres.
Steph Brittain’s love for storytelling developed whilst studying Kathak dance in Paris and Delhi and it continued to grow during her MA in Drama and Movement therapy. She trained in performance at Acting International in Paris and Drama Centre London and has performed at Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester, Arcola Theatre London and for the BBC.
Sarah Liisa’s storytelling draws material from all over the world but most especially from Finnish and Nordic folklore. Her tales bring you beasts and gods dreaming in the deep green of the Finnish forest, girls wrestling many-headed trolls in the mountains, pure-hearted fools chasing magic apples in a land of wonder, and dancing devils causing chaos and joy.
