«The way you do makes people feel very much like this: -?», that is, very puzzled, says an adult to John Tammet, a guy who can do complicated calculus in his head but cannot stay with others, and so dreams of becoming an astronaut and going to space, where one can stand alone and look at the planets and galaxies.
Self-portrait of a difficult teenager, John Tammet makes people feel very much like this: -? is a show constructed by intertwining his dreams of escape from an indecipherable reality, the dialogues and the loving contacts with his imaginary friend, the direct interaction with the spectators -the chance of a new awareness and, through a blunt emotional confrontation, of a truer discovery of the complex dimension of diversity. But at the same time the show crosses the boundaries of the investigation into a pathology, to become an instrument of exploration of the deep tissue of the relationships between people and the ambiguity governing them. And the choice of a "different" point of view on the world is the means of this new ability to reflect on the human condition.
The indecipherability of the world, seen through John's eyes, is primarily the indecipherability of human language. Thinking in a "non-conforming" way, he reveals the double nature of words, their ability to be used in a misleading way.
His way of looking at things, his different perspective, makes us feel so much: -?, but this perplexity turns into the engine of new reflections, in the precious tool able to reveal a crack, a fold hidden in the normal order of events.
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