Karina Jones: Wait Until Dark, New Theatre, Cardiff

I am very excited to bring Wait Until Dark to Cardiff New Theatre in just a few weeks’ time. Being from Llandudno it’s great to be bringing the show closer to home. It is definitely a week I am looking forward to.

Working as a blind actress is what I’m used to, so I don’t really know any different, but I do know that it makes an already difficult industry even more difficult. It can be very tough getting cast as a non-sighted character let alone being cast as someone who is sighted! I also work in a different way to sighted actors as I can’t sight-read and lots of plays aren’t yet available as audio books so this is something I have to find another way round. I have my script recorded which I listen to and during rehearsals I have my lines fed through an ear piece.

With Wait Until Dark we had the set from the first day of rehearsals which meant I could really get used to it. We also have lots of fight choreography which I have loved doing. I have to trip over a lot and there are complicated fight sequences that I enjoy too. We had a great fight team so I didn’t find them difficult to learn at all.

I wish it hadn’t taken so long for a blind actress to take on this role (it’s the 50th anniversary this month!) but I am delighted that Original Theatre Company have been so forward-thinking in appropriate casting. It has been a brilliant role to tackle as I have to be onstage for most of the play, a challenge I can really get my teeth stuck into. But what’s great about a mainstream company like Original casting disabled actors is that it sets a precedent that hopefully other companies and casting directors will take note of. It’s not a lack of disabled actors but a lack of awareness and opportunity in the industry but hopefully this will help in taking a positive step forward.

Wait Until Dark is at the New Theatre in Cardiff from 14 – 18 November.

Box office: 029 2087 8889

Website: www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk