Autism spectrum disorder is a term we hear more and more often these days. Perhaps it is better and more accurate diagnostic methods may help to identify the causes, but there are also new approaches to working with people with autism and enhancing their quality of life. This benefits both them and their families. One of the inspirations for the play was the rare book of interviews with Jozef Bednár, Nezlomní (The Unbreakable).

 

In the original script of the play Etudes by Lucia Mihálová and Peter Mazalán, we are introduced to the world of one family: an elderly married couple and their adult autistic son. One of the starting points for the text is the documents about the lives of people with ASD and their fateful experiences. What are the pitfalls facing families and individuals? What is the future perspective for a child when their parents are no longer here? What is it that gives strength to families? Has our social system created a truly functioning support network? Is it at all possible to penetrate into the life of a person with autism and understand a little about their inner world? A groundbreaking book by the Japanese author, who is also autistic, Naoki Higashida, Why I Jump, provided a glimpse into the inner world of an autistic boy. Through his story, we can discover humour, imagination, empathy, a relationship to nature, and perceptions of time and beauty. The Etudes are thus not only about the experience of the parents and their caring for the child, but also a chance to enter into a fragile and hard-to-understand psyche. The director and set designer, Peter Mazalán, has been working with the topic of living with autism for a long time. The powerful combination of live and classical music, performed by pianist Peter Pažický, and the distinctive visual approach promise an original and sensitising staging of the Etude.