Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing this play at the Thalians Theatre in Welwyn Garden City. It is a play, I have never seen and know little about. Likewise I have never read the book. I was aware that this play features an autistic young man, but that is as far as my knowledge went. This play was very well produced, sensitively directed and the lead character of Christopher, was played by an exceptional young actor. His portrayal was beautiful and so well observed.

The play itself presents its main protagonist as a mathematical genius, think Rain Man. As a parent of an autistic child, this stereotype is a little disappointing. Another autistic male, good at maths. However I suppose it is easy fit to a play, and allows the playwright to present Christopher as battling to take an A-Level in a subject which the audience is uncomfortable with. How many of us hated maths at school?

Away from stereotypes, the play hits very close to home as someone who is autistic, although more able to adapt to the world around me, than Christopher, as well as someone who is parenting an autistic child. One particular scene which hit very close to home, occured when the head teacher chastised Christopher’s father for discussing Christopher’s needs when he (Christopher) was still in the room. I have been chastised by a SENCO of a local school for discussing uniform and M’s needs when she was present. After all it is her body, it is her need, not mine. I cannot tell you how frustrating this is as a parent, and it really hit a nerve.

I found the way the play presents sensory stimulation very realistically, allowing a neurotypical audience to experience how overwhelming multiple sights, sounds and in some cases smells can be. Christopher’s reaction to the sensory stimulus was also very realistic, and I commend the actor for this.

I was very pleased to see that there was input into the play by people who work with students with special needs. I know autistic people like to part of research, art and reporting about them. This was something I explored in my recent research into autistic teachers, something I felt qualified to write about being autistic myself. I would struggle to produce a play about transgender issues without taking to someone form that community, as it is something I know little about, being a CIS female.

The mother in this play can appear to be a complete cow, abandoning her son for her lover. However I can understand how emotions, sometimes parenting an autistic child is utterly soul destroying. The challenge to present this to the audience without it being cheesy is very difficult to portray, and I am not sure this play achieves this completely successfully. I genuinely believe the mother believed Christopher would be better off when she left, but I struggle to know she would have stayed away so long not knowing how her son was. Maybe that is just me. She is prepared to leave her lover, after his vicious attack on Christopher, but not find her son before this.

I did very much appreciate the teacher character, Siobhan. This was played by a real life special needs teacher. This character is an advocate for Christopher, a real expert in her field. She knows autism so well and understands what he needs from an educator. It is in Siobhan, Christopher finds consistency in the chaotic world he lives in. So many teachers play this role in our autistic children’s lives, advocating for them and providing them with consistency. I had a teacher like this in primary school. Her names was Mrs Gates and she got me. Thirty years later, I still remember her.

Whilst not perfect in it’s presentation of autism, this play starts a conversation and raises awareness. Thalians was very brave to put on such a complex piece of theatre, but they did it well. As an autistic person, I recognised the people on stage, the experiences and misunderstandings and stigmas. There are some funny moments, some of them feel uncomfortable to laugh at, as we are laughing at the autistic trait at times. However there are times when the audience shares Christopher’s joy and that is when the piece really flies. Thank you Thalians for taking the risk, it has paid off.

PS, WordPress is being annoying this evening, so please excuse grammatical errors.