Imagine getting stuck in
heavy traffic, your skin turned sticky caused by the combination of sweat,
dust, and smoke. The sweltering heat and the humid Manila air are of no help at
all. You try to make yourself more comfortable by adjusting your sitting
position, only to realize that there's no room for you to move in because the
driver assured everybody that his jeep could seat twenty people. Judging by the
location where you're currently at and by the snail's pace this trip is going,
you estimate another thirty minutes of this same situation. You're utterly
bored. You left your iPod at home, your smartphone's battery is flashing a red
3% and you can't possibly spark up a conversation with the person next to you
because she seems irritated that her arm is adhering to yours as if that is
your fault. If there were another way to spend your precious time than
mindlessly looking at the static vehicles, you probably would have taken it.
A similar problem of
wanting to escape an inconvenient situation is what drives the story of the
play, Mind's Eye. But unlike our imagined scenario of getting stuck in a
crowded jeep for the next thirty minutes, the protagonists in this story are to
spend the rest of their lives in a convalescent room, with no more family to
visit them and no more view of the world outside except through their room's
window.
The play revolves on two
women: Elva, an 88-year-old former literature and drama teacher who is
gradually losing her sight; and Courtney, a 16-year-old girl who became
paralyzed from the waist down after a horse riding accident. When Courtney was
admitted to the convalescent home where she became roommates with Elva, the
former teacher tried to initiate a conversation with the young girl by reciting
poems and asking her if she knew any. Courtney, however, was still bitter about
the new path her life is taking and paid little attention to Elva's speeches.
But Elva was persistent, even bordering on being insensitive, and kept telling
Courtney stories and asking her questions until she came to the point of
offering Courtney a means to travel despite her condition. Through reading an
old travel guide, they could embark on an imaginary trip to Italy! The young
girl was strongly against the idea, skeptic as to how they could do it only by
reading. It is when Elva admits the reason why she terribly wants to go to an
imaginary trip to Italy is for her to fulfill a promise she made to her
deceased husband, and how her failing eyesight has prevented her to do so, that
finally convinced Courtney to at least give it a try.
