Show reviewed: 14/03/26 at 3.30pm.

Show rating: A poignant performance, 5 stars.

LA Foale features in their latest production, They Weren’t Saying Artistic, a show that delves deeply into the inner workings of “Luke”, an Autistic/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (known as “AuDHD” in the wider neurodiverse community) who is battling against the hidden costs of living as a spicy individual in a world built for “normal folk.” It’s a very interesting look at what happens behind mask of a neurodivergent person when it slips and they are tasked with the challenges of every day living experiences that are thwarted by a “mere” neurodevelopmental phenotype. LA Foale has created a poignantly and powerful reflection on the experiences of the neurodivergent artist.

The motif of struggling to take a shower (that I also lost that fight with today) serves to symbolise that the battle against AuDHD is real for many of us. Some of the typical daily difficulties we are immersed in from Luke’s perspective, are the realities of executive dysfunction and the uncomfortable behaviours of task paralysis and poor time managing as you avoid the things you should be doing . Other issues Foale addressed include rejection sensitivity when one is in severe, intense emotional pain from real or perceived rejection and not knowing what “the rules” are when interacting with groups of non-spicy people, when you can remember their names that is!

The show was based around Luke addressing their personified AuDHD as an adversary to be defeated daily and you get the sense of futility and frustration from LA Foale’s own lived experience of neurodiversity. I thought that this was an astute observation of how neurodivergence can be disabling, rather than the inspiration porn mantra of “autism is a super power model” that trivialises the distressing elements of being unable to comprehend rules of the world and live a full life. You can very much have a full existence without having to wear a mask and I think many other shows have illustrated the truth of this. Yet  They Weren’t Saying Artistic is unique in that Foale goes to dark places where other artists fear to tread. There are no illusions or false positivity here.

The performance includes moving soliloquies, funnily relatable anecdotes (that seem to be autobiographical) and I really connected with the phenomenon of endless doomscrolling in bed to procrastinate from the tasks that one is seeking to achieve for the day. This is a particularly vicious circle I frequent live and Foale held nothing back about the feelings inadequacy or failure such a cycle brings on as all the alarms you’ve set to keep you on task There were some Disney-esque of showtunes, a little more hopeful but also left Luke’s conclusion unresolved. This is a story without an ending because AuDHD never stops for us.

I am a late diagnosed AuDHD individual person who found myself nodding at Luke’s struggles in familiarity and enjoyed an accessible environment to review the show in. It was a relaxed performance that I found a particularly thoughtful way to include the neurodiverse community in a show about one of us. The experience with house lights left on, the sound dimmed down and the ability for the audience to move/walk around or leave for a time out.