Joshua (and Me) – Hope Theatre, London

Writer: Rachel Hammond

Director: Lucy Jane Atkinson

Studying music at university, Hannah is expected to choose her own piece for her first recital. ‘I was brought up in an autistic household,’ she tells her tutor. ‘I need a bit more structure’.

Rachel Hammond’s semi-autobiographical play Joshua (and Me) shows what happens when the neurodivergence of one member affects every aspect of a family’s life. At seven Hannah is already aware of things she cannot do because they would upset her autistic older brother Joshua, and the list gets bigger as he gets older. Playing music is one of them; but the guiding principle is that nothing must change. The notion may recall the gothic excess of Gormenghast, but this is Blackpool in the noughties, and Hannah and her other brother Ben have to navigate their ordinary childhoods around rigidly set mealtimes, unvarying food and Joshua, who has a whole playroom to himself.

Hammond herself plays Hannah, who is the smiliest little sister you will meet this side of the Atlantic. (So, it seems, is Hammond. Last night, when a technical hitch occurred, she removed herself graciously from the stage while Sophia Beeby calmly fixed the problem. In any other show this would have been an unremarkable incident, but here it was an accidental reminder of how easily neurotypical people deal with the unexpected). The play risks veering off into a feel-good celebration of ‘difference’ and the love it inspires. The children’s father is a Methodist minister, they say grace before meals and Hannah is steadfastly accepting of her life’s limitations.

It’s enough that she has a dear old grandad, who lets the younger siblings play music and takes them to football. So far, so Hallmark. However, the play is honest about the realities of family life. The only times the father is mentioned he is crying; the middle brother gets understandably fed up; Mum ‘can get stressy’. A simple mother- and- daughter shopping trip has to include The Early Learning Centre. Hannah is repeatedly told ‘He loves you really’, and it’s not totally convincing. In this story love is not so much an expansive glow as a tiny flame which needs hard work to keep it alive.

The show is both entertaining and instructive, but sometimes sacrifices drama for authenticity. It is inevitably sometimes repetitive; setting Joshua’s ‘dislikes’ list to music doesn’t make it less constricting. Lucy Jane Atkinson directs a lively performance, which makes the most of a tiny stage. Without overacting, Hammond plays everyone. Carly Altberg’s set uses simple shapes and bright colours, with giant Lego blocks to represent a play area. (In fact, Joshua’s passion is for trains, so Lego enthusiasts may be disappointed – train tracks on the stage would perhaps have been impractical).

There is plenty of humour. Delightfully, grown-up Hannah, hoping to catch the eye of a good-looking young man when she’s out with Joshua, hopes he’ll do ‘something really autistic’ so she can show off her carer skills. The play does not over-accentuate the positive, but it is enjoyable and enlightening.

Runs until 19 February 2022