Marathon – Rehearsed Reading

Marathon is a semi autobiographical coming-of-age comedy by Matilda Bayley about one girl’s struggle to locate her identity amongst a chaotic home life, growing up with her neurodiverse brother, Jack. In an attempt to lay claim to her selfhood, Tiggy convinces herself that running a marathon will fix her problems, only to discover that it makes them worse. Marathon uses the device of Tiggy’s manic marathon training schedule to parallel her turbulent family dynamics and expose the hard-hitting reality of what it is like to live and grow up with a neuro-atypical sibling: the effect it has on your self-worth and the extremes it can push you to. Exploring universal themes of the female experience, teenage infatuation and self-acceptance, Marathon offers a funny and empowering perspective on a classic coming-of-age story, whilst raising awareness of neurodiversity in contemporary society.