This one act play could make a great indie horror film adaptation. Cited as one of the reasons for bestowing the Nobel Prize for Literature on author Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgium's only recipient of this award, "The Blind," sometimes translated as "The Sightless," is a simple masterpiece of anxiety, claustrophobia, and suspense.
Twelve blind people have been led from their asylum on a remote island into the forest. Their guide has disappeared. They seem to be deserted in an unfamiliar place, and because they cannot see, they do not know how to get back to safety. Noises can be heard that they cannot identify. Unseen things touch their hands. Thorns seem to ensnare and cut at them as they try to stand and grope about. Should they attempt to walk to civilization? Or should they wait for their guide? Will he ever come back? In the meantime, the forest is growing cold, and hunger and thirst starts to take hold as tensions run high.
Maeterlinck was one of the great founders of French Symbolism, a movement that encompassed not only drama but poetry, novels, short stories, and visual arts. It was a fantastic and innovative genre that was able to convey volumes of potential information in very short works, brief sentences, or a single picture. Unfortunately, English-speaking audiences, especially today, have not had any introduction to Symbolism, and much of the literary work from this period has remained untranslated or hard to acquire. However, Maeterlinck is one of the better known examples, especially for his play "Pelléas et Mélisande," which was popularized in operatic form by Debussy. For those unfamiliar with Symbolism, however, "The Blind" is the perfect place to start. Short, intense, and brilliant, it is perhaps most representative of the style.
The play was intentionally written to be vague and open to interpretation. Some of said how it represents how tied we are to sight to establish a sense of self. None of the characters are named, and one comments on how none of them has ever been able to see each other, so no one knows who they are. Others see the plight of the blind as allegory for the human condition, left helpless by a silent and neglectful, or dead, god, perhaps serving as a prototype for Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot."
No matter how you "see" the play, I think this would be most effective performed in front of an audience in absolutely darkness, with sound effects piped in to represent the various environmental cues such as wind and footsteps and falling leaves. Theatre Ubu did do something similar. Instead of actors, disembodied plaster heads with faces projected on to them spoke in the pitch black through recorded performances by two voice artists.
I highly recommend you experience this chilling piece of experimental drama for yourself. If you are not already afraid of the dark, you will be.