Imagine the most awkward date you’ve ever been on and I bet Vivian Chong has a story that can top it in her solo show Blind Dates. Chong takes the audience along for the ride through the roller coaster of her dating life, with all of its ups and very steep downs. Featuring original music composed by Chong, and directed by Theatre Passe Muraille’s Marjorie Chan, Blind Dates gives unique insight into Chong’s life and loves.

In the hallway from the lobby into the Backspace at TPM, there’s four foam squares hung on the wall with patches of textures which you can touch, and I highly recommend you do! There’s grassy turf, wooden boardwalk, a rough textured sand, and smooth water with a little clay kayak afloat. These represent the four tactile cues which Echo Zhou has incorporated into her set design to allow Chong to navigate her way through the set. The grass covered the main part of the set, while the boardwalk creates a border on either side. There’s a large bench centre stage from which springs surprise after surprise! Along the sides, there are poles which are the colours of the inclusive pride flag also creating an outdoor, park-like feel. I have to be honest, because the tubes were the pride colours, I half expected the end of the story to be that Chong gave up on dating men in the end! The white cloud which hangs above centre stage is used to project text onto, an lovely accessibility feature. However, the text is AI generated from what Chong is saying, like speech to text on your phone, and like that feature, it often mistakes what she’s saying for another word or phrase, making it more distracting than helpful. I would have rather seen the real script projected, even if Chong switches up a line or two, than to have it consistently get the words wrong, making it less useful than I think they’d like. The rest of the set made me long for a sunny day in the park, and Vivian Chong certainly brings the light to this production. 

In her bright yellow rimmed sunglasses, Chong tells the stories of what it’s like for her to try and date as a blind person. The fetishization of her blindness is ever-present, whether she meets these men in real life or online; I love her quip about “why can’t they just focus on my Asianness?” when talking about the subject. Part of the way through the show, she remarks on how there aren’t any dating apps for the blind community, so she has no way to know if her profile is getting attention or what the possible bachelors look like. I hadn’t considered this before, but it’s a huge impediment to Chong actually being able to choose for herself whom she’d like to date. Then there’s the reactions once folks find out she’s blind, which actually make the audience audibly react with shock at what some have had the audacity to say to her. There were several of her stories which have the audience up in arms, cheering her on for her good decisions and sense of self-worth while chiding the men who’ve hurt her. All the while, Chong sings and plays her original compositions which are inspired by the stories she’s telling. While the story certainly feels complete, there was a certain aspect to it which made me feel like I was watching a show at Fringe; like it was almost there but not quite fully formed. It’s such a great look at her life, and I hope that she continues to refine and tweak the show as it goes through more productions. 

Right off the top Chong gets the audience talking, asking us how we are, that sort of thing. It’s also a very good reminder, however, that we need to audibly react to the stories she’s telling, as she can’t otherwise get a feel for the room. The audience I was in quickly caught onto that, and were not afraid to express our distaste for certain dates, love for her, and absolute horror when warranted.

Vivian Chong is like a ball of light on the stage. Her vivacity, tenacity, and yearning are ever present throughout the production. Her fierce independence, desire to be loved, and frustration with dating in general make her automatically relatable. Her personal story is inspirational, and you certainly get to see how that ferocity manifests in her love life. 

Blind Dates is like getting to hear the crazy dating stories of a close friend; from the moment she started addressing the audience, I felt like I had my little invisible bowl of popcorn and teacup and saucer waiting for her to spill all of her secrets to me. I hope that some of the technical glitches can be worked out for future, because this story is unique yet universal, and offers a perspective we don’t necessarily consider about the world of online dating. 

Blind Dates has just been extended! It will now run at the Backspace of Theatre Passe Muraille until March 15. For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.passemuraille.ca/blind-dates/

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Cover Photo:

Pictured: Vivian Chong

Photography by Jae Yang

Directed by Marjorie Chan 陳以珏

Set Design by Echo Zhou 周芷會

Sound Design by Gloria Mok 莫嘉詠

Lighting Design by Steph Raposo

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You can read my interview with set designer Echo Zhou here: https://aviewfromthebox.net/2025/02/19/stage-door-dialogues-echo-zhou-of-theatre-passe-murailles-blind-dates/

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