sparks

I've been thinking about Spoonface Steinberg recently. Lee Hall - who wrote Billy Elliott - wrote a radio play called Spoonface Steinberg (which he then adapted for the stage, to much acclaim). It is a heart-warming, funny and moving story about life, death and faith, told from the view of a young autistic girl. The voice of 9-year-old Spoonface offers a unique perspective on life. She is affected by autism, and her quirky and eloquent take on the world around her is mesmerizing, poignant, and at times, very funny. Slowly it is revealed that Spoonface is terminally ill, and that the audience are witnessing the swansong of a quite extraordinary little girl:

“because when the world was made, God made it out of magic sparks – everything that there is, was all made of magic sparks – and all the magic sparks went into things – deep down and everything was a spark – but it was quite a while ago since it was made and now the sparks are deep down inside and the whole point of being alive – the whole point of living is to find the spark – and when you meet someone and say hello – or if you tell them a joke or when you say that you love them or try and help someone who is sad or injured – all these people, all they need is help to find the spark … and when people kissed there were sparks and when people held each other there were sparks and when they waved as they were going away in a car there would be sparks and they would all be prayers – they would all be prayers for the babies and the sad people with cancer – and if only you could see the spark then there was a meaning – because what was the meaning of anything? – if you were going to die, what was the meaning? – all the trees and the bushes and the famines and wars and disasters and even pencils or pens – what was the meaning of all these things? – and the meaning was if you found the spark – then it would be like electricity – and you would glow like a light and you would shine like the sparks and that was the meaning – it wasn’t like an answer or a number or any such – it was glowing – it was finding the sparks inside you and setting them free.”