AUTISM ON THE PAGE, STAGE AND SCREEN
This week the island book club read and discussed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. The selection was prompted in part by the play being presented locally at Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota. It has been so popular that the run has been extended through March 17.
The novel was published in 2003 and the group felt that there is much greater awareness of autism now and the range of autistic behaviors from Asperger’s syndrome to high functioning savants. And, probably also greater acceptance. Several had seen stage productions, either here or elsewhere. Generally, they felt the play successfully showed being overwhelmed by too much noise and multiple stimuli and then being further handicapped by not being easily able to communicate one’s thoughts and feelings.
The lead character, 15-year old Christopher, is very smart, but also very literal. He is upset when his neighbor’s dog is killed with a pitchfork. His mother is not present (he’s been told she died of a heart attack), and his father is angry with him for doing detective work to determine who did in the dog. Christopher’s efforts and his findings lead him to make a train journey to London to visit his mother. This trip is a huge undertaking. Written in Christopher’s voice, the prose is straightforward and that plus Christopher’s drawings and diagrams are effective in portraying how he thinks.
I recently began watching an ABC television series, also available on Amazon Prime, entitled The Good Doctor. Shaun Murphy is a young surgical resident who is autistic. The hospital’s surgeons hesitate to hire him given his difficulties in communicating. Under pressure from his mentor, the hospital president, they reluctantly take him on. While socially awkward and at times inappropriate, Shaun is very smart and sees things on images and scans others miss. It is an amazing depiction of the challenges even a gifted autistic individual faces in dealing with the rest of the world.
MUSICAL OFFERINGS
Music Monday always has someone of note to offer and this past week, it was Russian born pianist Olga Kern. Ms. Kern is from a musical family with connections to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. While clearly talented, having won the Van Cliburn Piano Competition, she is also a delightful personality. She charmed us with her exquisite playing (Rachmaninoff, Chopin, et al) and with her conversation.
Sarasota and the orchestra have been fortunate to have Anu Tali as music director. She is winding up her sixth and final year as conductor and this week the orchestra delivered a paean to the community in the form of To Sarasota with Love. Four principals in the orchestra, violin, horn, cello, and bassoon (all male), were featured in solos or duets. These musicians, combined with Tali’s fluid, balletic conducting (with hands only and no baton), made for a most enjoyable evening. She will be very much missed!
RECENT READING
Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood
Novelist Hood’s book is an engaging memoir with recipes. She frequently references her Rhode Island upbringing in an Italian American family and her grandmother’s cooking. The era of Hood’s childhood partly overlapped mine. She calls out Good Seasons salad dressing, Rice-A-Roni (I never ate it, but certainly knew the ad jingle), and wishing to trade her homemade lunch for a friend’s more appealing one. I always thought Sarah Wood’s bag lunches with a leftover chicken thigh looked delicious—much more appetizing than my cheddar cheese and mustard sandwich on cracked wheat.
Hood’s life has had more than its share of sorrow including the early death of her brother and the loss of a child, but her writing is brimming with life and good feeling. The recipes are mostly comfort food, not sophisticated, and sound tasty on the page. GoGo’s Meatballs are calling my name! (~JWFarrington)
Note: Header photo of Any Tali by Kaupo Kikhas.
