Maybe He’s Born With It, Maybe It’s ADHD

Maybe He's Born With It, Maybe It's ADHD, is like boarding a runaway train – exciting and slightly terrifying at the same time. Colin Ebsworth delivers a nearly one-hour one-man ‘not a TED Talk’ which catapults us into the world of living with ADHD.

Ebsworth is a master comic and wordsmith and relates well to the audience. He opens the show by sharing his pronouns “TOO and LOUD” and proceeds to quiz us about our personal connections with ADHD. My companion was only recently diagnosed as an adult man with the condition, as was Ebsworth only two years prior. Whilst there are many different presentations of ADHD for people on the ‘speccy’ as he calls it, he focuses mainly on his own experience which is that of the hyperactive type- the one with “electricity bones’. Ebsworth’s show is clever and funny and loud, and if you’re not a fan of hearing the “c bomb” dropped regularly, then be warned. He is passionate in his delivery and likewise managed to slide in some current political climate comment, welcomed and understood by the crowd.

Ebsworth’s use of humour to cope with undiagnosed and misunderstood ADHD as a child, continues in his show, where the pain and isolation is masked in jokes and hilarity. He takes us on a journey through his life from being a very ‘busy’ child who struggled at school- both primary and high school. He shares his report cards where typically comments reign about his lack of focus and concentration. He explains to us about the neurological features of ADHD where the brain constantly looks for a dopamine hit to allow focus. His stories about resorting to becoming the ‘joker’ at school resonated deeply with my ADHD’er companion.

A very interesting part of the show found him playing with sound effects and making loud comments whilst an audience member reads a description of ADHD. For this reviewer, who is also a teacher in my ‘real life’, it was a lightbulb moment. Suddenly the complexity of dealing with so much noise and input and not being able to filter what needs to be heard was clear! My empathy levels increased a thousand-fold.

His experience with teachers throughout schooling really resonated and I hope that these days with the training and understanding teachers have of ADHD, the treatment of these kids is markedly better! He did make us guffaw loudly when he described the one teacher who ‘got it’ – the media and performing arts teacher as opposed to the PE teachers who are not ‘allowed to wear human clothes’.

It would be very easy for this show to become quite a pit of sadness in looking at the rejection and isolation this condition can bring, but Ebsworth balances it well, making it thought provoking and informative. It was his closing section where he discussed his father who grew up not knowing what was wrong with him because he didn't have a diagnosis of ADHD which was particularly poignant. The man had spent his whole life believing he was defective.

Ebsworth talks of the time his father came to see his show, and ended up in tears after. During the show and his discussion of his schooling, Ebsworth talks of gaining his only award at school in Year 2. The emotion his father felt on hearing this, was because he didn't know he was capable of having a son who was ‘so smart’. This final revelation reduced many in the audience to sniffles and huge empathy for Ebsworth and his father. What a hard thing to live with and believe there is something wrong with you, for your whole life!

This is a clever piece of theatre and despite (many) technical issues on preview night, Ebsworth used his neurodivergence to excel at zig zagging, adapting and problem solving on the hop. Whilst a few carriages came off the runaway train, he cleverly reboarded and took us along for a wonderful ride. A very clever show!

Shelley Hampton

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