The Tempest - For young people with autism and their families

Fifteen children on the spectrum become the participants for each performance, sitting with six actors in a circle on the floor around a painted floor cloth, which represents Prospero’s island. The children’s families sit just behind them on an outer circle of chairs. The actors invite the children to join them on the island as the story unfolds through sensory games, which the children and actors play together.

Although the games and the narrative remain the same for each performance, the show is completely different every time depending on the nature of the children and young people who attend. The almost immediate emergence that so many of the children experience through playing the games within the transformative space of this theatrical experience is overwhelming.