Blind Woman’s View of “Sweat” at Goodman Theatre

Know how actors prepare to do fight scenes on stage? I do!

Mike joined me for Goodman Theatre’s presentation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat yesterday — my Seeing Eye dog Whitney led me to the theater early to participate in the audio touch tour before the show.

Still time to see “Sweat” at Goodman Theatre.

Other touch tours I’ve been to in Chicago have introduced me to actors, directors, set designers, stage managers and costume designers, but this is the first touch tour I’ve been to where a stage combat director took the time to show us how a fight scene would play out on stage.

Fight choreographer Matt Hawkins came on stage after we’d been introduced to the Sweat actors. Matt explained how fight choreographers (sometimes called stage combat instructors) minimize the possibility of an actor hurting themselves or their fellow actors while doing stage combat. “It’s my job to make sure the actors understand they never have to make a move in a fight scene that makes them feel unsafe, we actually want them to speak up if they feel unsure or unsafe about a move.”

And with that, he turned around to the actors and asked if they’d feel comfortable going through the play’s fight scene and describing their actions out loud as they performed them for us. “We’ll do it very slowly,” he said. “You’ll take your places, and when I say go you’ll say your character’s name, describe the action you’re doing as you perform it, and react just as you will during the performance,” he said. “You all comfortable with this?” Sounded to me like they all said yes, but just to make sure, Matt called the name of each actor one by one to ask if they were comfortable. Each said yes, and then Matt said “Go!”

”Jason pushing Oscar in the chest!” the actor playing Jason says, and we hear Oscar let out a painful “Oomph!” We hear Chris on the side yelling for them to stop, and then Jason pipes up. “Jason picks up baseball bat!” Then the actor playing Stan says, “Stan  grabs hold of Jason’s arm to pull him back!” Jason says,” Jason shoves Stan’s arm backward,” and Stan says, “Stan falls to his knees!” we hear a thump. Jason actor says “Jason picks up baseball bat, pulls it backward and swings it at Oscar’s stomach!” we hear Oscar moan. “Oscar falls on Stan,” the actor playing Oscar says, and then we hear another actor moaning. Must be Stan…

It continued from there. Before this sample scene started, Matt told us TV and film have convinced viewers that there’s a certain sound that accompanies each blow, but in real life, punches do not make much sound. Spoiler alert here: A woman on stage who is not in the midst of the brawl supplies the sound effect. “Audiences expect a sound,” Matt said with a shrug. “So Jessie times each blow and claps with every punch.”

My description here cannot do this all justice. I fear I may leave readers thinking Steam is a violent play. It is not. The entire fight scene probably took 8 seconds, and it’s the only physical violence in the entire play.

But it is an extremely important scene.

I’ve been to plays with fight scenes before, but at those, all I could do when the fight started was close my eyes, sit back, and wait until the scene was over. I’d have to wait until after the play to ask the sighted friend with me to explain what wwent down.

The touch tour yesterday showed me, an audience member who can’t see, how the scene was choreographed. It also explained how much actors in a fight scene on stage have to do to stay safe. It was fascinating.

Seems to me that playwrights who write fight scenes into their plays must do so for a reason. Maybe a fight scene helps tell the story when words are not enough? Thanks to the audio touch tour sneak preview I got for Sweat yesterday, I was able to take in the message of the entire play. Thank you, touch tour. Thank you, brave actors. Thank you, fighting instructor. Thank you, Goodman Theater Accessibility Services.

Sweat has been extended to April 21, 2019, and Chicago Tribune theater critic Chris Jones says the Chicago performance was better than the one he saw on Broadway years ago. Get more information and buy tickets here.