A-Typical Rainbow

An overly imaginative autistic child’s vast and glorious fantasy worlds rule his life in beautiful and horrific ways from an early age. His mother decides to seek help for him in the early 2000’s to allow him to adapt to the ‘real world’ that we all must live in. This removes him from the fantasy realm and gives him a chance at normalcy, all be it at the significant cost of his own authenticity. From the household kitchen to employment at a world-famous travelling circus, the young boy faces the trials of choosing between being honest in an unaccepting world, or attempting to fit in. It is through love, friendship, harsh lessons, bigotry, reality, and fantasy that he learns he ultimately must make a choice – be honest and risk stigma or continue to hide unhappily and unprogressively? An uplifting play about the experience of growing up neurodivergent and queer in early 2000s Britain. Both comedic and poignant, it explores how, through repression and shame, autistic people are made to feel by both adults and peers alike, shaping the adult they become today.

Performance at Malling Community Centre, Spences Ln, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2HQ.