Glass Child

Maitreyeh Guenther enters and sits on the first of five chairs arranged on the stage. She signals the operator, the lights change, the music stops, and she begins to introduce herself. But she stops and leaves. Once more she tries, hesitantly. It is obvious that she is disturbed by what she has to say … and rightly so … because this is her story.

Maitreyeh is the “Glass Child”. But the story is not just about her. It’s about her special relationship with her older brother Kayah, who was born with Down Syndrome. And it’s told in a sensitive merging of storytelling, drama and dance.

“Glass Child” is a term used to describe the sibling of someone with a disability. The brother or sister who is often overlooked or “looked through” as the needs of a less able child grow. At home Kayah was just Maitreyeh’s older brother. And when, at school, she saw him being ridiculed or ignored by older children, she didn’t understand why. But she cared, greatly.

Here, together, they tell the story of their very special relationship.

Glass Child is carefully crafted insight into the difference between perception … and acceptance and connection. It doesn’t admonish society for its misconceptions. Rather, it explains, clarifies and enlightens.

Maitreyeh returns to the stage and describes her family. When Kayah joins her with a cheeky response to her introduction, she smiles and waits. When he reappears impishly swirling around in a strange, shaggy costume, she waits again.

Patience and smiling tolerance, she explains without a word, are the first steps to understanding.

When Kayah finally settles at the microphone Maitreyeh listens carefully, then simply and precisely translates his animated, expressive yet slurred sentences.

Add listening, to patience and tolerance.

In another scene Kayah models while Maitreyeh, in a lab coat, gives a clinical description of the features of Down Syndrome.

Now add knowledge and understanding … and gentle, loving humour.

Then they dance. Physically and emotionally, they demonstrate the creation and cementing of a relationship based on patience, understanding, trust … and unbounding love.

The choreography is challenging, intricate and charged with emotional transformations that are intensified in the music, composed by Anna Whittaker. On the bare stage they move together, then apart, the lighting (Chloe Ogilvie) highlighting the darker moments of their dance story and throwing sunlight on loving moments of joy.

While they dance, Kayah’s life in home videos plays on a huge backdrop. Happy family scenes from his first days in a humidicrib, to growing, exploring, and dance lessons with a younger Maitreyeh. Bright, happy moments caught on film by proud, informed parents.

In an interview with Chris Bath on ABC Drive just before opening night, Maitreyeh, Kayah, and their mother spoke of the creative support of directors Gavin Webber and Kate Harman. Their mother also spoke of her “joy in their growth together” and her hopes that audiences would “come away having a thought about inclusion”.

Anyone who sees this very moving production can’t help but do so.

Carol Wimmer

Photographer: Kate Holmes.