Like many great books, by the end of The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida you feel like you’ve really got to know the author. This is all the more extraordinary as Naoki is a non-verbal, Japanese teenager and the book a fairly unique ‘voice from beyond the silence of autism’ as its subtitle states. The genius of the book is that it allows you to spend some precious time in Naoki’s company, get to know how his mind works and understand something of his remarkable world view. This production attempts nothing more complicated or less important. The whole show is really an opportunity to create a space for these types of encounters. As well as Naoki’s experiences and ideas, here you will meet our five performers who will tell you about their own experiences of living with autism, all different from Naoki’s and each other’s, but all connected by a desire to explain, to help people understand what autism means for them.
Based on the book by Naoki Higashida, Translated by David Mitchell and Keiko Yoshida
So welcome to Naoki’s garden. A labyrinth within a maze. A meditation within a puzzle. We hope you enjoy meeting its occupants as well as finding out about the Japanese teenager who has inspired us and from whose imagination all of this has grown. —Graham Eatough
Conceived by Graham Eatough and created with, and performed by, a group of artists with autism ranging from early teens to 60 years old.