I watched the video of a reading of Matteo Esposito’s Moonchild (available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FNkpDJ3ZV0) because Matteo had emailed me asking for a review of the play.

Moonchild is a piece of disability theatre, focused specifically on the challenges faced by Harry, a boy with autism who wants to be a painter. The conflict facing Harry is two-fold: his internal self-doubt and the external force of his father’s dismissals. These two forces are, no doubt, self-reinforcing. Harry has likely developed the sense that he can’t do certain things because of his father, and then when Harry does struggle with things it strengthens his father’s conviction that “people with autism fail.” However, when Harry’s father send him outside to paint (even though night is coming on), the Moon talks to Harry and encourages him to pursue his dream of becoming a painter no matter what. The Moon tells Harry to believe in himself, and that if he believes in himself and works hard, he can achieve anything. Eventually, Moon convinces Harry to make a deal with Harry’s dad that if Harry can paint a beautiful picture in two weeks, the dad will recognize him as an artist. And that’s just what happens.

The play is relatively didactic, which I don’t think is entirely uncommon in disability theatre. The focus is essentially on the message that people with autism can achieve anything they work hard to—that disability can’t hold someone back if they pursue their dreams. It’s a good message. From a dramatic perspective, the limitation of this message is how much time is devoted to just saying it repeatedly. The majority of Moon’s dialogue revolves around trying to encourage Harry to build his self-confidence. The real strength of the play’s theme could be better developed by showing us some of Harry’s struggles, rather than relying so much on expository dialogue.

All that being said, there are some really interesting elements of the dialogue here. In particular, when Moon tells Harry that he’s in the sky to provide light for people in dark times, and develops an argument that Moon is invested in people living up to their potential. Obviously, the moon is a very common symbol in art, literature, and drama, but personifying the moon in this way is a unique twist that raises some interesting questions about the link between people and nature. There’s also a universalizing element to this story, because the moon is something seen all over the world, and Moon tells Harry he talks with all kinds of people. This suggests a profound connection—Harry is not only not limited by autism, he’s not isolated by it. Harry is part of a global community of people who see and speak with Moon.

The other element that really strikes me with this play is Harry’s dad. I want to be clear that I am not doubting this is a true to life depiction of how some (or unfortunately many, perhaps) parents, teachers, mentors, etc. interact with people with autism. But personally, I don’t understand this character’s callousness to his own son and his son’s desire to be a painter. We get some insight into the dad’s character later in the play when we learn that he’s a business person and he believes something only has value if he can sell it—and as an arts/literature person I have a hard time sympathizing with that mindset. I also have a hard time understanding why a father would be such a dismissive dick to a child. He literally tells Harry that he can’t succeed—not just at painting, but at anything—because of his autism. Even without being a professional psychologist, it should be pretty obvious how emotionally devastating that is, especially to a child like Harry who so clearly wants dad’s love and approval.