Play gives insight into world of the blind

In the world of the blind, trust is hard to build and incredibly easy to lose. A trivial mistake, which would be of no consequence to sighted people, could cause the visually impaired a devastating crush of inner peace and a sudden collapse of intimacy.

That's what writer Bi Feiyu's Mao Dun Award-winning novel Tuina, or Massage, explores. In the tangle of relationships in a massage house, blind masseurs try to find love, power and dignity, only to find their lives an unorthodox challenge.

The dramatic tension of the novel has attracted many directors to adapt the story for stage and screen. A TV serial of the same name has just finished screening. A movie by avant-garde director Lou Ye is underway. Now a stage play is set to tackle the work.