Grace
Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire
★★★★☆
Autism is a spectrum, with myriad expressions, and this play is a thoughtful, careful evocation of one of them, that of Grace, a non-verbal 12-year-old. Her close relationship with her dad doesn’t need words: they have their own way of communicating, including through a letter board. Her relationship with her mother is less easy, and the resolution of this is part of the narrative of Jody O’Neill’s moving, gentle drama.
The performances are relaxed, for those with sensory sensitivity, with integrated captions and audio description (some are also ISL-interpreted), so the detail of Zia Bergin-Holly’s cluttered-garden-shed set is enunciated in detail at the beginning. Dad (Bryan Burroughs), as well as being central in Grace’s life, also narrates and is the bridge for the audience, addressing us directly, and inviting interaction.
He tells us early on that both a sparrow and a ghost are significant in the story of his daughter’s life, seen in flashback via her scrapbook, The Book of Grace. That ghost is Dad’s. That we know almost from the start that he’s going to die makes it no less affecting when it happens. The simplicity and straightforwardness of this foreshadowing of grief works well.
This new play for young people and families, directed by Niall Cleary and presented by Graffiti Theatre Company, Once Off Productions and the Pavilion in association with Cork Opera House, continues O’Neill’s work using drama to explore autism. It asks, can we understand without hearing, without explanation?
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The devices used for communication, or to show how Grace’s brain works, or what is happening – projection, silhouette and shadow play, whiteboard and letter board, a fan, lights, voice manipulation, the use of metaphor – are inherently theatrical; their use is both practical and poetic. Grace’s autism is like having coloured roots beneath her tree; her feelings are like an octopus’s tentacles; and her heart is wide open. Hers are “flappy, restless, untameable arms”.
Burroughs and Grace Kiely are perfectly pitched as Dad and Mum, and Eleanor Walsh’s depth of expression as Grace stands out, with a performance of delicacy and clarity.
We the audience are asked to believe in what we’re seeing, which brings the theatre contract to another level. It’s deceptively simple in depicting the complexity of how this girl with autism experiences life; always there’s the presumption of competence and intelligence, despite the lack of speech.
This is, appropriately, a graceful piece of work that deserves to be seen both by those affected by autism and those not. As the play says, some people can’t see you if you don’t have the words, and some people need to be shown.
Grace, which was at the Pavilion as part of Dublin Theatre Festival, is on at Nun’s Island Theatre, in Galway, from Saturday, October 12th, until Tuesday, October 15th, as part of Baboró International Arts Festival for Children
