Blindfolds can be used as weapons of fear, of deception, of secrecy, but in Blind Man’s Song the performers have purposely veiled their faces to reveal a whole new world of imagination to the audience.

“When you are blind you have to go with your first feeling straight away, your instinct,“ says creator and actor Guillaume Pigé, “and whatever happens you have to imagine that is true and trust it. It’s a matter of survival.

“The world of imagination becomes as real as the world we perceive with our sight.“ Blind Man’s Song tells the story of an old blind man who is about to go to bed when he starts thinking about a woman who bumped into him that day and left him with her handkerchief.

“It’s about how far one can get from this very simple stimuli,“ says Guillaume, who plays the role of the man, in his imagination and wears a veil over his face for the entire 65-minutes, as does co-star Selma Roth.

Guillaume has spent the last year working with the Haringey Phoenix Group, north London’s largest organisation for blind or partially sighted people, to develop the “play without words“, which will premiere at Jacksons Lane next week as part of the London International Mime Festival before going on tour, with performances audio described and a touch tour of the set.

The graduate of the International School of Corporal Mime and RADA, where he now teaches, says: “None of us in the creative team are blind or visually impaired, so it was important we know what we are talking about.

“It also sparked many different ideas we wouldn’t have thought of exploring.“ Instead of words the show has an original score performed live by Alex Judd, and many of the props have microphones on them.

Guillaume says: “It’s about finding out what is essential on stage.

“In the end what’s important is to make a great show that will move people and I think it doesn’t really matter if it’s a dance or mime piece.“ He worked closely with nationwide charity VocalEyes to audio describe what was happening on stage as it progressed, so members of Haringey Phoenix Group could give their feedback on the development of the show.

The French native, brought his company Theatre Re to Haringey eight years ago, and supported by Arts Council England and Haringey Council, he worked with members of Gamblers Anonymous and locals in Tottenham to develop previous shows.

Blind Man’s Song is the company’s fifth production and was born from the idea of exploring a kiss.

“I realised most people choose to close their eyes when they kiss,” says the 29-year-old, “so that’s where the blindness is starting from because darkness arouses dreams and imagination. So if we take it to the extreme, why not set it up in the mind of a blind man?“

He was also strongly inspired by the “haunting“ painting by Rene Magritte of the two veiled lovers about to lock lips. “I thought the veil was leading us to a completely different world, outside or above reality.“

He made the bold decision that he and Selma should also be veiled on stage and says it led to a revelation.

“We realised we can’t really cheat. It can feel like you are hidden and that what you think or feel doesn’t matter. But I think audiences can see through us even more, it’s a very interesting phenomenon, it makes us even more vulnerable and naked on stage.“ “Most of the show we are pretty much in the dark,“ he adds, “so it is a little bit tricky.

“We have this big bed on wheels, so we want to make sure there are no accidents, but also once you can’t see, your movements can become smaller and we don’t want to that, for it to work on stage it has to stay big.

“It’s difficult but we wouldn’t want to do something that was easy.“  

Jacksons Lane, Archway Road, Wednesday, January 21, 8pm, with a post-show discussion and Thursday, January 22, 8pm, with audio description. Details: jacksonslane.org.uk, mimelondon.com, retheatre.com