I went to Blindness last Thursday, and I think it's definitely a unique experience, though it's very different from theater in the traditional sense. The best way to classify it is probably to call it an "immersive radio drama" as the entire story is told through the audio in the headphones you put on. The lighting mostly serves to immerse you in a specific environment, which for the most part helps you focus on what's happening in your ears even more (though be warned that there's quite a bit of flashing lights and extended periods of total darkness, if that bothers anyone). The entire second third of the show is told in spatial audio, as you assume the place of one of the characters and you can hear the main character walking around and whispering in your ear before walking away. It's definitely super realistic to the point where I kept shivering because I could've sworn I felt someone touching me. The first and third parts of the story are told by a more classical narrator (the first part is told in third person and sounds an awful lot like an audio book, while the third part is told in first person of the same character you were hearing during the second part).
The story itself I wasn't too crazed about and it's interesting enough to keep you invested in it, though I admit my mind wandered a bit during the first part of the show. It was a bit too metaphorical for my taste, especially the way it ended, where I felt I couldn't quite grasp exactly what it was trying to say, but the middle section did a tremendous job of putting you directly in the middle of the action so that it felt like you were actually experiencing what was happening. I'm curious to read the novel it was based on just to see how it plays out differently in that format.
Overall, I think it was an interesting experience to have, though I wouldn't call it a must-see, and it doesn't exactly scratch the live theater bug since it's quite different from a traditional stage show.
