Tell me how it is: typhlocommentation is developing in theaters
Since March, the professional standard for typhoon commentators has been in effect in Russia — until now, this profession has not been official. Meanwhile, it has been developing for several years, and one of the most popular areas is typhot commenting in theaters. People with visual impairments also come to performances, and specially trained people help them "see" what is happening on stage: between the lines of the actors, they describe everything that happens on the stage — the actions of the characters, their appearance, facial expressions. How typhoon commentators work and why their appearance is so important is in the Izvestia article.
What is typhlocommentation?
Marina Nesterenko has been "tiflokommenting" performances in Ural theaters since 2020. This service appeared there thanks to charity projects. For example, in Tyumen and Tobolsk in 2025, she is working in the Tiflo Theater project, which is being implemented with the support of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program.
Typhlocommentation is necessary for people with visual impairment and the blind. A person comes to the theater, they are given special headphones — something like for an audio guide in museums — and they "see" everything that happens through the characters' lines and the voice in the headphones. This is far from the same as reading a play with short remarks from the author.: "Enter Dunyasha with a candle and Lopakhin with a book in his hand." Thanks to the typhoon commentator, Dunyasha and Lopakhin get a specific look, the one that the actors give them on stage.
"To prepare, they send me the script of the play, and a professional video is required, according to which a typhoon commentary is being prepared," she told Izvestia. — But improvisation always begins during the performance. There may be two or three cast members, there may be a substitution of the actors' lines, some spontaneous jokes. Along the way, sometimes you need to get your bearings: in the prepared text, a brunette in a velvet blue dress appears on stage, but in fact a blonde in green comes out.
She emphasizes that typhoon commentators "finish" the visual not with their impressions, but with what a person should see at the moment.
— The main task is for the blind and visually impaired person in the audience to watch this production simultaneously with all the audience. As a rule, a blind person has a very inquisitive perception, he likes maximum detail," says Marina Nesterenko.
This is done not only in theaters. For example, there are now several typhoon commentators of sports competitions in Russia. They not only describe what is happening at a football match, but also the appearance of the players, their location on the field, and the emotions of a person at the moment of falling or hitting a goal.
It's the same with circus performances — that's where, it would seem, it's impossible without vision at all. However, blind people come out of performances and just fall in love with the circus, says Marina Nesterenko. The typhoon commentator gives them circus terminology, describes the tricks and techniques of the artists.
Surprisingly, the picture adds up — sometimes even better than that of the sighted.
— To be honest, many sighted viewers who come as escorts with people with visual impairments also ask for an earpiece — they like to watch the play that way, it's clearer that way, — says Marina Nesterenko. — Modern drama is complex, and thanks to the commentary, the blind can understand the play better than those who have no visual limitations.
Where is such a service available now?
The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation told Izvestia that regular performances with typhoon commentary are now included in the repertoire of the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater, the Obraztsov Puppet Theater, the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater, the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater, the Evgeny Vakhtangov Theater, the Moscow Provincial Theater, the Russian Academic Youth Theater and etc.
Thanks to grant support, such performances are performed on the stages of other theaters. Last year, for example, the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia organized screenings of three operas — The Tsar's Bride, La Traviata, and Carmen — with direct commentary through the Special View program of the Art, Science, and Sports Foundation. However, this practice has not yet become regular at the GABT.
Performances for the blind are constantly staged at the Moscow Art Theater Studio School, and the theater began to travel to other cities accompanied by a typhoon commentator. According to Rector Igor Zolotovitsky, about 20 theaters in Moscow already have similar experience: Sovremennik, Pushkin Theater, Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov's Theater, Mayakovsky Theater, Mossovet Theater, etc. There are theaters that started doing this, but for some reason stopped.
— So far, everything is based on grants and enthusiasts. And not everyone can prove that it is for these purposes that funds need to be allocated," he said.
The All-Russian Society for the Blind (VOS) said, with reference to the Art, Science and Sport Foundation, that within the framework of the Special View grant program, conditions for the professional activities of typhoon commentators in 130 theaters, 75 museums and 10 circuses throughout Russia were provided and funded. And the recipients of typhlocommentation services are more than 500 thousand people with visual impairments throughout the country.
At the same time, the VOS notes that they are not aware of other forms of raising money, except for grant ones.
The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation adds that somewhere the funds of the government of the Russian Federation are used for this, joint programs of the United Russia party and the Ministry of Culture "Theaters for Children" and "Theaters of Small Towns", in some cases projects are supported within the framework of the state assignment of institutions.
The Tyumen Concert and Theater Association received the support of Sibur's Formula of Good Deeds. However, the director of the Tobolsk Drama Theater, Evgeny Ponomarev, is confident that even without grant support, sooner or later he would have come to comment on the performances.
"We have already considered this possibility, and we would definitely have purchased a certain number of devices," he said. — Blind people come to us anyway, but with tiflokommentation they will experience the performances much more vividly and fully. They were thrilled when we announced that the performances would be announced.
Vera Febralskikh, a high-level tiflocommenter and head of inclusive cultural projects, says that the average tiflocommenter's fee in Moscow for a grant from the Special View program is 350 rubles per minute of visual sequence when creating the text of tiflocommaries for a performance. Another 70 rubles per minute is the cost of conducting this performance, taking into account the intermission. But now the stakes are already getting higher.
The equipment itself costs more than 300 thousand rubles per system. The theaters that participated in the grant programs were lucky — they got the equipment from the funds. The Tyumen Puppet Theater, for example, now has one set of typhlocommentation equipment with 30 receivers for visually impaired viewers.
How typhoon commentators are taught
Another thing, Evgeny Ponomarev continues, is that a typhoon commentator is a very rare profession, "a completely piece—by-piece talent." The theater is currently thinking about how to train its staff for this specialization. And Roman Yavnich, director of the Tyumen Puppet Theater, admits that he himself wanted to try himself as a typhoon commentator.
"But that was before I saw his work," he told Izvestia. — You need to be aware that this is a separate area of activity, which takes time to prepare for. But I hope I'll come back to that later.
Typhoon commentators have been trained in Russia for over 12 years. It all started with the non-governmental Institute for professional rehabilitation and staff training of the Society of the Blind, known as the Institute "Reacomp". A total of 419 people have been trained during this time, including seven people from Uzbekistan, the Society for the Blind said.
According to Maria Shcherbakova, the chief specialist of the Reacomp Institute for Rehabilitation and project management, there are now just over 200 typhoon commentators in Russia.
"The demand is high, especially in the regions of Russia," she told Izvestia. — If there are a lot of specialists in Moscow and St. Petersburg, then in some regions they still do not exist at all or there is only one.
Before completing the training, all candidates are tested for memory, concentration, clarity of expression, and speech literacy.
Vera Fevralskikh is a graduate of the first set of courses at the Reacomp Institute. Initially, she studied sign language, which was difficult for her, despite her knowledge of several foreign languages. Then her teacher invited her to sign up for the first set of typhlocommentation courses.
"And I've been in this profession for 13 years now," she says. — However, typhlocommentation was just a favorite thing for a long time, which did not bring income until I got acquainted with the funds that purposefully do this.
Typhoon commentators Shcherbakova M.A. and Isaichkina Ya.A. in the typhoon commentary booth installed in the Small Hall of the Moscow Kremlin Palace
In 2018, another course for teaching typhoon commentators appeared in the capital — at the Moscow State Linguistic University. Alla Anishchenko, the dean of the faculty where this is done, emphasizes that typhlocommentation primarily implies serious linguistic training. MGLU considers this activity as one of the types of translation, when the signs of one semiotic system are translated into linguistic signs.
In 2024, the Russian State Specialized Academy of Arts introduced a free professional development program for retraining specialists who already have experience in typhot commenting, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation said.
Will something change with the advent of the standard
After the standard has appeared, the profession can be considered official. Moreover, theaters can now add typhoon commentators to their staffing.
"The appearance of a professional standard has not yet affected the specialists in any way,— the society for the blind notes, however. — I would like the service to be provided in the state order. But until now, the term "typhlocommentation" has no legal status and is not fixed in the law "On ensuring access to information for the disabled." The Russian Foreign Ministry has long sought to include the concept of "typhlocommentation" in the law along with the translation of Russian sign language and Typhlosurd translation.
Marina Nesterenko suggests that rapid changes should not be expected. However, the profession has been brought out of the shadows, and this is already a big plus.
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