Upon the 29th of November, at the Mooring Cafe, another awesome MixMatched night unfolded! – The topic, ‘Masks and Masquerading’ was open to interpretation, however the term ‘Masking’ is often used within Neurodivergent community to refer to ‘fitting in’, and adapting to neurotypical expectations… How would other’s interpret the theme? MixMatched stage was graced by ten exceptional acts….
The compare, Emma Robdale brought her collection of venetian masks, as masks/collecting masks was one of her own intense fascinations. She began the evening with a short speech upon the nuance of masking; for her, an ND mask is not a superficial means to fit in, but rather something cultivated through lived experience, which after decades of ‘co-existing’ was inextricably linked to her creativity and ingenuity; she saw it akin to a shied, crafted through times of isolation and hardship, she had earned her mask. She advocated for their to be more places where Neurodivergent individuals could safely explore their identity, and hoped that future generations of ND folk would have less of an inherent need to mask, but viewed her own mask as part of her, and her experiences.
She was followed by Arron Kay, taking to the stage for the third time to regale us more endearingly awkward accounts of faux pas and misunderstandings; demonstrating that, even when trying to mask, many ND folk will still get caught in ‘a comedy of errors’. Our last booked act for the first section was MixMatched first, Harry Ainsworth, a member of Kent’s Stand-up Society, he shared some of his experiences of being bisexual… comedically highlighting LGBTQIA+ nuance and dispelling a number of ‘gay best friend’ stereotypes. Just before our first break, MixMatched host Alice Riley surprised us by taking to the stage and making an impassioned speech reflecting upon her own experiences and how difficult it is for autistic adults to gain support and how demoralizing the process can be. Ironically, our ND masking ‘reflexes’ are often get in the way of us accessing support, with many assessors not understanding/appreciating our diverse needs and presentations.
After our first break, we were joined by the Autistic Assemble – an improv group of Neurodivergent comedians who found one another through performing at MixMatched nights! Superhero-themed, their three participants were named by audience members: Green Nipple (with inspiration from specifically placed ‘green’ communication stickers) Mr Hose and Madam FUCK (who somehow spelt her name FUCDEK), and was a genetically modified dandelion! United they solved the audience’s problems in improv game, ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’… before everything descended into pop culture madness as they escaped from a burning building (with a lot of help from Mr Hose)!!! Their act was followed by guest poet Nick Goodall, visiting MixMatched stage for the second time, he has specially written us another train poem! (which he had vowed never to do again!) – With a set ranging from political reflection to hysterical satire, Nick captivated our Audience before leaving the stag to our last act… MixMatched regular, Adam Dorr, who took to the stage with his new comedy set (which he’d just written at The Mooring Cafe!), inspired by his own unwellness, starting, “It’s bad enough being mentally unwell, I can’t cope with being physically unwell too!”. He stated that he had so few school sick days, he could remember them all! – ascertaining that him (plus others) took the army training day off, causing it to be canceled – he now took personal responsibility for a dip in army recruits and weakened dational defence; and with that, it was time for another break!
In our third and final section we had not one, not two, but THREE sign-ups! Emma, the host started us off by sharing a section of one of her first blogs (she works for Disability Arts Online) where she first publicly ‘came out’ as autistic; her blog detailed first telling her flatmate she was autistic… the encounter was not as freeing as she had envisaged, with her being asked about a number of AS stereotypes (such as whether she was good at math’s), and concluding that her AS diagnosis has ‘failed to impress.’ Next Mike took to the stage, who was working as a bartenders, at The Mooring Cafe, and hat been coaxed out by our array of talent. 🙂 – He recalled how he’d actually performed one of his first poems, two years ago, upon MixMatched stage… at our first ever night! Mike now performed a trio of poems inspired by medieval roll-play games and magic; incredibly rhythmic, Mike unfolded a range of profound, mysterious characters. He was followed by our penultimate sign-up, Laura, who has watched many a MixMatched… but was her first time upon stage; she shared a touching short poem written by her father upon identity; it created a intimate moment between her and our audience. Last, but certainty not least, Oz, another MixMatched first, took to the stage, sharing their own experience of Echolalia, in a poem that had written right their on the spot!!! – Their poem creatively highlighted the frustration of not being able to communicate/only being able to repeat words in high stress situations.
MixMatched hosts, in traditional fashion, finish with the audience poem! (written by audience members on the night and read a line at a time by each hosts) -This time their were lots of references to Mr Hose (Simon Kempthorne’s superhero name from Autistic Assemble).
For the first time ever… Mixmatched finished on time, meaning their was time for people to stay and in the Mooring Cafe… and read the vast collection of new Neurodivergent themed memes that had been scattered on the tables.
Good fun was had by all. 😀 – SEE YOU ALL NEXT TIME 😀
Our Set:
1. Emma Robdale – short speech upon masking followed by three poems relating to her personal experiences of masking.
2. Arron Kay (he) – comedy spoken word on awkwardness and misunderstandings from neurodiversity
3. Harry Ainsworth (he) – new performer, stand-up comedy
4. Alice Riley – Speech upon Neurodivergence and civil rights
BREAK
5. Autistic Ensemble (10 min) – improv group
6. Nick Goodall (he) – poet, actor and performer known as “The Bard of Broadstairs”, stand-up poetry not about trains
7. Adam Dorr (he) – comedy
BREAK
8) Emma Robdale (she) shared a section from her Disability Arts Online Blog upon ‘coming out’ as autistic.
8) Mike – Magical Themed Medevil style Poetry
9) Laura – Read one of her dad’s poems.
10) Oz – Read a poem about echolalia and their own experiences.
Audience Poem. 🙂
