My fist experience with deaf theatre was last January when I visited Santiago de Chile in the framework of the Inclusivet project. I didn’t expect to leave La venada ciega feeling that a children’s story about deer would shift how I understand theatre. But Hermosa Compañía’s latest piece, presented at Teatro a Mil 2025, is not just a beautiful, tender tale — it’s a bold redefinition of accessibility, expression, and who theatre is for.
The story, inspired by Horacio Quiroga’s La gama ciega, follows a mother deer on a journey to restore the sight of her blind daughter, Venadita. As they cross the forest, meeting creatures like a sleepy sloth and the mysterious Doctor, we’re drawn into a world where animals have their own rules for survival — and a quiet, magical friendship with humans.
But it’s not the plot alone that captures you. What astonishes is how the performance flips traditional hierarchies of accessibility. Here, Chilean Sign Language (LSCh) is not added as a secondary layer — it is the language of the story. Deaf actors embody the characters with such physical clarity, emotion, and precision that voice becomes almost unnecessary.
And yet, there are voices. Two hearing performers stand to the side, giving spoken language to the characters — not as protagonists, but as interpreters. Suddenly, sound becomes the accessibility tool — a reversal of roles I found deeply moving. As a hearing audience member, I realized I was being included in their world, not the other way around.
La venada ciega is more than inclusive theatre. It’s theatre that gently invites the hearing world to listen differently — not just with ears, but with eyes, bodies, and attention. It’s a piece I’ll remember not only for its beauty but for the generosity of its perspective.
Kostas Diamantis Balaskas
Action Synergy