Special schools: Pupils experience sights and sounds of rainforest

Tribe is performed in a specially created set inside schools to one child - and a companion adult - at a time

Some young autistic pupils have been experiencing the sights and sounds of the tropical rainforest without even leaving their special schools.

It is thanks to a unique 40-minute play for autistic children called Tribe from Replay Theatre Company.

Tribe is performed in a specially created set inside schools to one child - and a companion adult - at a time.

The principal of Tor Bank Special School Claire Breen said the play was "absolutely incredible."

Claire Breen said it was an "all-round sensory experience" for the children

"These are young children who don't get to the theatre as it's a very difficult experience for their parents to take them to the theatre," Ms Breen told BBC News NI.

"So to be able to access that in a one-to-one in an environment like this, it's so special.

"It's an all-round sensory experience for them."

BBC News NI saw Tribe performed with Joshua, a young pupil with autism at Tor Bank, which is in Dundonald just outside Belfast.

Within minutes he was exploring the environment, playing with an illuminated jumbo egg and accompanying the actors as they moved around the forest to the sound of tropical birds.

Actor Kathryn Aiken is one of the three performers in Tribe.

"When the audience arrive they come and join the camp and take part in a day's activities with us in the camp which involves a lot of storytelling," she said.

"We meet a cunning snake, cheeky monkeys, gorgeous birds of paradise."

"We experience a rainstorm and at the very end of the show it is nightfall and the fireflies come out to play."

Michael Johnston and Kathryn Aiken are two of the three actors involved in the play

The three actors in Tribe have to be very fit as they are always on the move and very flexible as they react to what the pupil wants to experience or explore.

It can be different every time, according to fellow cast member Michael Johnston.

"When you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person," he said.

"There is no everybody likes this or everybody doesn't - everybody is unique and they all have a beautiful individual personality that you have to adapt and change to.

"As an actor it's a unique challenge."

"Every moment you're listening and you're watching your audience to respond."

The inclusion lead artist at Replay, Andrew Stanford, said the production was due to long experience of working with autistic and neurodivergent young people.

"It takes years of experience and research to deliver this kind of work effectively," he said.

Andrew Stanford described the play as a "really profound experience for the audience"

"We work with professional actors who spend a lot of time training in the different approaches and different methods that you can use in order to appropriately engage a young autistic person in this way."

"It's designed to be sensory led and it's very intimate. It's a way to engage them directly that benefits how they want to experience live theatre.

"It's very up close, it's very personal but it's a really profound experience for the audience."

'Incredibly privileged'

Tribe is performed at no cost to the schools as Replay receive funding to deliver it, partly from BBC Children in Need.

It is being performed in four special schools over five weeks and then in the MAC theatre in Belfast from 27 November to 1 December.

Though it is physically demanding, Kathryn Aiken said Tribe was a joy to perform.

"Children who have autism don't experience going to the theatre as we might know it, so this brings it to them in a really sensory way," she said.

"The cast can really focus in on that child and make the story come alive in a way that's suitable for them.

"We've really seen young people coming into the space and really just relaxing into the show.

"We feel incredibly privileged actually to be doing this work."