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Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism, still goes far less diagnosed in women than in men. It’s why Amy Shindler chose to put 25-year-old AS sufferer Sarah (Rae Brogan) at the centre of her first stage play. She flies to London from the States to visit her sister Kate (Anne Adams) and English brother-in-law Dan (Simon Bubb) – and proves a high-maintenance guest. Blunt, fastidious, prone to outbursts and fiercely protective of her tamagotchi (remember them?), it’s not long before Sarah drives a wedge between Kate and Dan, to disastrous consequences.
It’s not a criticism to AS is used to humorous effect here: the play works hard to avoid caricature (at one point, when asked to solve a complicated maths problem, Sarah is quick to point out she isn’t Rain Man). Instead, Shindler mines the awkwardness created by someone who is unable to sugar-coat anything they say with niceties. And given Shindler’s background in sitcom writing, it’s hardly surprising that the first act plays out like a farce. Everything takes place in a single location – Kate and Dan’s living room – and ends in a protracted scene where we witness a full-blown seduction from sober start to drunken finish.
And really, it’s the well-paced first act that forgives the pig’s ear that is the second. All of a sudden, the lols are replaced by a rushed sequence of mawkish revelations and plot twists flimsily carried by bland dialogue. Brogan ably steers her way through it as Sarah: small, slight, fierce eyes never making contact with others. Sadly Adams and Bubb are given little more than ciphers of characters to work with. Sally Knyvette’s production is serviceable, but let down by irksome music, and struggles with the rapid scene changes of the second act. A fundamental warmth saves what is admittedly Shindler's debut play; hopefully future stuff is more even and focused.