The lighter side of driving in darkness
2005-09-22
HEIN WAGNER, the new World Blind Land Speed record holder, will be bringing his show Bat Magic to Paarl on Wednesday 28 September at the Lion’s Club Hall from 20:00.
Hein, who set the new World record on 8 September on an airstrip in Mafekeng at 269 KPH, was driving a Maserati GranSport sponsored by Viglietti Motors, the official Ferrari and Maserati importers.
Hein will be building some of his World Record experience into his Bat Magic script.
Hein (33), from Cape Town, goes through the routine, rehearsing a well-planned and thought-provoking autobiographical script.
He tells of his ventures in learning how to ride a bicycle, how he installed computers, how he coped in a world of sighted people, sometimes with great frustration and pain, often with humour and always an antidote to self-pity, as he challenged stubborn obstacles.
The script not only deals with his struggles but also his triumphs, and, it might be added, his sometimes foolhardy attempts to resist the limitations that being blind have put on him.
In a deliriously reckless moment he and a friend sitting behind him on a motorbike crashed into a fence.
“I have the scars to prove it,” Hein says wryly.
Bertus Colyn, a long-standing blind friend of Hein who lives in Paarl, plays the guitar and takes care of backing vocals in the show.
He is a songwriter and some of his original work is included in Bat Magic.
Direction is being handled by Willem van der Walt, who was as taken aback by the proposal at first, as he was fascinated.
“Creating visual elements for a blind person has been intriguing, to say the least,” he says. “It calls forth every inventive possibility.”
A cash bar and refreshments will be available and the proceeds will benefit the Paarl Lions Club. Bar opens at 18:00. Tickets can be bought from Print Right at R70.
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