Blind Dates – Review of 2025 Production at Passe Muraille

Blind Dates by Vivian Chong has the double meaning of going out with someone you have never met and, in her case, being literally blind as well. This is a one-woman performance by Chong at the Theatre Passe Muraille’s Extra Space in which she tells us stories about being blind and especially about dating a variety of men and other experiences. She narrates with humour, tenderness, poignance and gumption.
Chong describes herself as “an artist, potter, sculptor, painter, singer, song writer, playwright, theatre creator, actor, dancer, drummer, film maker, comic book author, yoga instructor, tri-athlete.” We will assume that she finds time to eat and sleep. She lost her eyesight fifteen years ago and she appears on stage with a white cane to tell her story and sing for us.

There is no hint of self-pity about her condition as she ventures to meet people, go out on dates, look for a job and function as an artist. She tells us about going out on a date with Barry who seems like a nice guy but turns out to be a collector of blind people. They have a bonfire and she tries to develop a relationship with him but it does not work out.
She dates several other men including Paul with whom she goes to Italy. He wants to have sex with her underwater and she beats a fast retreat from him.
She looks for a job and a recruiter examines her abilities, likes her voice and suggests that she become a telemarketer or an on-line sex worker. Oops.
Vivian Chong is smart, talented and fearless. She paddles for several kilometers in Lake Ontario with her friend Jeff, a kayaker, and seems to have found a kindred spirit.
She sings five songs that she has written. They have simple lyrics that describe her state of mind at the time and perhaps describe relationships. In “Cabin Fever” she finds a smoky, quiet cabin, a refuge where she sleeps in the shadows hoping someone will come her way. In “One Blue at a Time” she walks her talk and speaks honestly but he is gone. In “Self-Made Woman” she asserts her strength and independence and sends him away as she looks to a brand-new day in a brand-new world.

Finally, there is fulfilment and happiness in a new relationship in “When We Met Starts”. Her life gets easy, the clouds part, she has met her best friend. Finally, they are kissing, hugging and spending time together and she finishes the song with the prospect of sexual fulfillment as she looks forward to falling in love with him tonight.
Chong is a good storyteller and can modulate her voice when she relates conversations with people. She makes good use of the small playing area of Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace and keeps the audience’s attention throughout. That is no small achievement in a solo performance with some prerecorded music for the songs and the rust being entirely up to her.
The set is designed by Echo Zhou and consists of a grass-covered couch with a table and keyboard behind it.
Theatre Passe Muraille’s Artistic Director Marjorie Chan directs the performance and she dramaturged the play which, she told us, had two-year gestation period. It is worth seeing.
Blind Dates by Vivian Chong opened on February 20 and will run until March 9, 2025, at Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto, Ontario.
www.passemuraille.on.ca (416) 504-7529

Vivian Chong.    Photography by Jae Yang

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