b'How does including disabled people in theatreconnection to the mystery. Similarly, his train set is rendered realistically,fundamentally reshape how a performance is created,symbolising its calming and grounding effect for him. In contrast, less emotionally significant or more socially confusing aspects of his world are portrayed abstractly. received and interpreted by the general public and When Christopher knocks on doors, the ensemble embodies his environment and artistic reviewers? emotional landscape, helping to physically represent his distress and isolation. During moments of emotional overwhelm, such as reading letters from his mother, the delivery is stylised: the letters are read aloud by other characters whileAlly Bradley Christopher silently builds his train set a visual metaphor for his copingmechanism and disconnection from the information being revealed. Christophers Ally Bradley dives into the neurotypical gaze, dissecting how disabled perspective entirely shapes the structure of the play.protagonists are received by neurotypical audiences as a fascinating, precious or tragic spectacle. As an autistic and disabled person, I see myself in Christopher; I loved the book because I felt seen for the first time. I had a similar experience watching the playuntil the audiences reaction shifted my feelings; the audience cheered at the What drives you? end of the performance when Christopher explained a complex maths problem. I have had an interest in disabled identities since I was diagnosed with autism at age 10. I think when you yourself are disabled you can see injustices andOn the surface, this might seem like encouragement or admiration, but to me, it how badly the world treats those who are considered a minority. felt infantilising. Their response reminded me of proud parents watching theirchildren perform, paired with a self-congratulatory sense of witnessing something I chose my essay subject because I have had many conversations with peopleeducational or eye-opening. It didnt feel like they were celebrating the explanation about The Curious Incident and learned how misrepresenting it can be. I haveof a difficult conceptrather, it felt as though they were impressed that an autistic to admit reading so many reviews that were so misinformed and outdated inperson could explain it. I didnt yet have the language to describe what I felt at the terminology was heartbreaking to see, especially the more recent ones thattime, but looking back, I now understand it as a form of subtle patronisation. What were written after 2020. I was one of the last generations in England to be di- struck me most was the gap between what the play communicated to me and agnosed with Aspergers fifteen years ago, but it seems I knew more at age 10,what the audience seemed to take from it. This was a reaction I never experienced than some so-called professional reporters today. while reading the book, where there was no external audience to shape or distort the meaning. The difference revealed to me how important audience interpretation isand how easily disabled representation can be filtered through a neurotypical The experience of disability, as Kuppers (2017) describes it, involves the lived real- lens of pity, amazement, or self-congratulation.ity of being different, whether physically or mentally. Disability as narrative refers not just to how a disabled character feels, but about how disability is portrayedThis issue links directly to Tobin Siebers critique of how disabled people are often as a narrative device, often as a symbol or metaphor for brokenness or somethingdiscouraged from sharing personal narratives. He writes, narcissism represents other. In many cases, disability is portrayed as an obstacle to overcome, a signifi- perhaps the dominant psychological model used today to maintain the superiority er for emotional or narrative depth, rather than an identity or experience in its ownof ability over disability (Siebers, 2008, p. 34). When disabled people speak from right. lived experience, they are frequently accused of self-pity or attention-seeking, as if their stories are too emotional or subjective to be taken seriously. Yet it is precisely I saw The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time in 2015 at the Theatre this absence of disabled voices, as in The Curious Incident, that allows reductive Royal Plymouth performed by the National Theatre (NT). The play, a dramatic, and stereotypical representations to dominate.mystery and coming of age story, is presented as a murder mystery written by Christopher, a fifteen-year-old boy, who is widely interpreted as autistic. The visualThe plays portrayal of autism is shaped through a lens that centres theworld of the play mirrors Christophers thought processes, alternating betweenneurotypical gaze. It does show that Christopher can be independent, e.g. it men-hyper-realistic elements and abstract representations. For instance, the tions his routine when he comes home from school: letting himself in, making a performance opens with a realistic depiction of a dead dog with a pitchforkamilkshake, and feeding his pet rat, Toby. He looks after his pet rat independently visceral image that immediately centres Christophers intense emotional throughout the play, which is not a trait often shown in Autistics with high support 28 29'