Theatre review: Rulebook to Society

Photo: Primose (Hannah Whitfield) and her teddy bear in Rulebook, courtesy of Deli Theatre

Shakira Dyer explores Hannah Whitfield’s funny and moving solo show about neurodiversity and the systems that fail us

From a school detention to a mental health institute, Hannah Whitfield takes you on a journey that will have you laughing, then aching, sometimes both at once. Rulebook to Society, performed at the Deli Theatre as part of their recent Shift and Space festival, is an intimately personal and funny play by that stays with you.

I first met Hannah at Chickenshed Theatre during the Rise festival, so I was excited to see how she had developed the piece.

Part autobiographical and part musical, it showcased Hannah’s emerging singing and dancing talent, while also telling a story of not being taken seriously through the mental health system. She was endlessly referred to a ‘too much’ or ‘difficult due to her autism and ADHD. Hannah talks about desperately trying to find the rules on how to engage with social situations that everyone else seemed already born with, the ‘rulebook to society’.

The play starts as Hannah’s character, called ‘Primrose’ appears in detention at school. Then the scene moves forward to the mental health institute where Primrose is now living.  She is given generic advice like ‘just be positive’ during her lowest moments, prompting her to comfort herself through singing.

Primrose has a teddy bear, who she treats like an extension of herself, sometimes admonishing him and other times holding him gently in her arms.

She likens it to the labels at a supermarket, with her new diagnosis of ADHD, ‘It’s not wrong, it’s just not all of me.’

Transitioning to black, the play moves back and forth, landing in a moment at school where she senses something has changed, even if she cannot name it fully, a subtle shift in tone that only she can detect. She settles into a feeling she cannot fully explain. ‘It’s like a change in the weather, and some of us notice that change before the others even notice the sky.’

Primrose tries so hard to remember the rule, to write it down. She’s been told by many people to just ‘calm down’, but this doesn’t solve the issue, as it feels like pushing it away.

You built the cage then called me wild, you told me to grow up then treat me like a child

She is misunderstood by a teacher at college, who appears to default to scripted responses and doesn’t listen to her replies, especially as it’s already hard for her to explain what she is experiencing.

Their labels of ‘over-reactive’ ‘difficult’ and ‘too much’ become physical written labels on Primrose’s chest, as she becomes ‘The Monster’ they think she is. ‘You built the cage then called me wild, you told me to grow up then treat me like a child.’

Over an instrumental version of Michael Jackson’s ‘They Don’t Really Care About Us’, she stomps on the floor and claws with monster-like hands, before collapsing.

The final scene shows Primrose giving a talk on Zoom, appearing composed, yet afterwards telling us that she still struggles with some things and that ‘survival’ is not the end of her story.

‘I’m not a problem in your perfect code, I’m just walking down a different road.’

She suggests the rulebook is now turning the page to a new chapter.

Following the performance, Hannah invited the audience for a Q&A, where she said she will be developing the play for the TK Fringe, Kingston’s annual fringe festival in August. Check out more here.

I spoke to Hannah about whether the story was based just on her experiences or on others as well. She said it was drawn from her own story and included others’ experiences, explaining, ‘You have to choose which stories you want to tell, you can’t tell it all in one piece, but I want people to take away the severity of living with neurodiversity and how it really feels. I also want people to take away that it doesn’t go away, but it can get easier. And that you are probably forever going to come against those battles, but you’re worth more than any of those people who would tell you that you’re not.’

I would recommend Rulebook to Society to anyone touched by neurodiversity, whether personally, as a family member, or as an educator. It is simply a must-see for anyone who wants to better understand what it means to navigate a world not built for you.

Rulebook to Society is going to be back in the Fusebox festival, on 5th July at 7pm. Tickets are on sale now.

Find out more about Hannah here: Legally Detained

You can listen to her podcast: No Longer Legally Detained for more information about the play and her wider creative projects supporting neurodiverse young people!