A new play on the theme of autism opens at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin tomorrow having been nominated for an award for its scriptwriting.
"What I (Don't) Know About Autism" is being performed in a way that seeks to make it more accessible for audience members with autism.
It is known in the theatre circles as a relaxed performance, which means the usual rules of a theatre are not followed as stringently. They also include a post-show talkback.
Jen Coppinger, Head of Producing at the Abbey Theatre, said that it is a "huge honour" to work with the show.
"It's incredibly important to us," she said. "For every production we have on at the Abbey, we really embrace access.
"We always have performances that would have an Irish Sign Language aspect to it, we also have performances with audio descriptions, but for What I (Don't) Know About Autism, we really are embracing even more access."
Ms Coppinger said that while being accessible to more, the production is of as high a quality as any to be performed in the Abbey Theatre.
She said: "Artistic excellence is huge to us. Every production here, we think has excellence in terms of writing, in terms of stagecraft, in terms of telling a story. This piece is an historic piece of writing and we feel it is as important as anything happening on the Abbey stage."
To cater for a wider range of sensory processing and to allow more access to a wider audience, house lights remain on during the show, warnings are in place for any loud noises and ear protectors are available.
The entire show is also captioned and available online with Irish, British and American sign languages.
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"Relaxed performance is amazing because it gives access to the theatre to people who may have been excluded from that work," said the show’s writer Jody O'Neill.
"It takes away those invisible rules that we have, that you shouldn't be moving or making noise. Relaxed performance takes all that away and takes the anxiety out of the experience.
"For thousands of years we've been trying to make art that's for everybody and that's inclusive. Art reflects life and life reflects art and if we're not seeing the full diversity of the human experience in art, it makes it invisible."
Inspired by Ms O'Neill's own experience, What I (Don’t) Know About Autism is a part-fictional, part-factual journey into the world of autism.
"My son was diagnosed as autistic in 2016 and I subsequently received an autism diagnosis in 2019," Ms O'Neill said.
"In between those two dates we did a lot of finding out about autism. We were finding that sometimes what the experts are saying is very different to what the autistic community said would help them."
The play has been nominated for a 2021 Zebbie Award for Best Theatre Script. Since its premiere, there has been huge national and international interest in this unique production.
Ms O'Neill and other cast members have presented about the work at a diverse range of events and conferences, including Middletown Centre for Autism’s International Conference 2021, Autscape 2021 and ADI’s & The Kennedy Center’s From Access to Inclusion Symposium 2021.
What I (Don’t) Know About Autism is directed by Donal Gallagher, choreographed by Cindy Cummings and produced by Melissa Nolan.
