"Art. Out loud": 11 performances of the Golden Mask festival adapted for visually impaired

In spring of 2019, Golden Mask - the Russian National Theater Award and the all-Russian Performing Arts Festival, celebrates its 25th anniversary. A quarter of a century the festival gathers the most interesting and significant performances from cities of Russia and presents them on the theatrical stage of the capital. Thanks to a special program of audio description, created by the partner of the festival, Sberbank, in 2017, the Golden Mask performances are accessible for blind and visually impaired theater lovers.

Audio description provides specially prepared comments for visually impaired and blind people to replace or supplement visual information that is not available to them.

"Art. Out loud” is the name of a unique mobile application with audio description developed by Sberbank in partnership with the All-Russian Society of the Blind. With its help, visually impaired people could enjoy performances and watch movies. Professional developers participated in the creation of the application; they pre-viewed the performances and specially prepared the audio description. The application is available on devices using the Android and IOS operating system, after launching it is synchronized with the TV, describing what is happening on the screen.

The app works the same way during a play, but an audio describer attends the play too and manages the information provided to the users of the app due to the impossibility of automatically synchronising comments with actions on the stage because actors play their roles live and some timing differences may appear.
The first performance of the anniversary 25th season of the Golden Mask, which was accompanied by audio comments, was shown at the State Academic Theater of Mossovet.

In 2018, audio comments were used at 8 festival performances of various genres. This year the number of accessible performances has been increased to 11. One of them is the musical “Vinyl”, presented by the Krasnoyarsk Musical Theater. And on March 6 the Bolshoi Drama Theater in St. Petersburg showed the first episode of the Three Fat Men dystopia, directed by Andrei the Mighty. In the history of the theatrical festival Golden Mask it was the first performance with audio comments, presented on the other stage.

Note that in 2017, within the framework of the Golden Mask festival in Perm, the first adapted opera for blind visitors, Traviata, was held in Russia. The musical action on the stage was accompanied by audio description, and the booklets were printed in Braille. In addition, the guests of the show were able to talk with the actors and touch their unusual costumes.

Performances with the audio description at the Golden Mask Festival 2019 in Moscow:

• April 3 at 7 pm - the musical "The Count of Monte Cristo" (18+), in the Moscow Palace of Youth
• April 4 at 7 pm - drama "Hamlet" (16+), in the Russian Academic Youth Theater
• April 8 at 7 pm - the musical “Twelve months” (6+), in the theater “Novaya Opera”
• April 9 at 7 pm - the musical "Roman Holiday" (12+), in the Russian Academic Youth Theater
• April 12 at 7 pm - opera "Enufa" (16+), in the Musical Theater. K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko