Autistic voices are underrepresented in media to be sure, but another group whose stories are seldom told are the siblings of autistic people. The worries, responsibilities and challenges that are part of the unique experience of being sibling to an autistic person are hard to express in such a way that does not silence or delegitimise autistic people, but Joshua (and Me) is a creative and touching testimony of love and acceptance.
Joshua (and Me) is a one-woman show told from the point of view of Hannah, who since she was born knew that her eldest brother Joshua had different needs to her own. He follows lots of rules that she needs to follow as well, adhere to a particular routine, and she doesn’t see him very much, almost as if he is in his own world.
Hannah’s mission, should she choose to accept it, is to make sense of Joshua’s world, but Hannah must also learn to find her own place in a world which has shaped much of her identity to be defined by her brother.
Rachel Hammond gives a charmingly dynamic performance, acting out not just Hannah’s growth from childhood to adolescence, but other characters that accompany her journey such as her brother Ben and her mum.
We are also treated to a creative utilisation of score; the show starts with Hammond creating a train-engine beat which recites throughout the piece, underscoring scenes of tension, and vocal melodies representing the rules she has to remember which get more and more unwieldy are added to the best through the whole play.
The nature of a one-woman show is that the perspective is restricted to whoever is speaking, so you can be forgiven for being nervous about how a show like Joshua (and Me) Â handles such a topic. But it is clear Hammond has put in the work listening to autistic voices and experts in order to construct a play that is respectful yet emotional and thought-provoking.
