Echo checking the audience. Photo/supplied
Clown, physical theatre and dance are used to present an insightful, heart-breaking, yet humorous portrayal of life on the autism spectrum with the showing of Echolalia at Baycourt Theatre next week.
The winner of Best Solo Show at the 2012 NZ Fringe Festival, Echolalia was inspired by the perspectives and
directness of autistic children when creator Jen McArthur worked on a holiday programme.
McArthur also performs the character of Echo, a delightful young woman preparing for a job interview, but who does not register social niceties.
Echo unwittingly puts our unspoken social rules under the spotlight ... and finds a lot of them wanting. Touching, surprising and hilarious, Echolalia is a highly-recognisable portrayal of a person in battle with their fears. "I found working with autistic children really inspiring in terms of their directness and lack of commonly perceived social etiquette.
The autistic condition of fearing social interaction can be viewed as an amplification of what life is like for everyone. Echo's battles and triumphs over social situations are recognisable and relevant to us all," she says.
