Tasmanian playwright Ryan Enniss’ play Drizzle Boy, which won the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award (QPDA) 2022-2023 from a field of over 200 entries, has made its world premiere to a standing ovation at Queensland Theatre.

Informed by the playwright’s lived experience, Drizzle Boy is a coming-of-age story centred on a young autistic man navigating his first semester of university, his changing relationship with his parents, and the new terrain of love and dating.

Directed by Daniel Evans, this is the first production Queensland Theatre has staged by a neurodivergent playwright. Neurodivergent actor Daniel R Nixon stars as Drizzle Boy. Oliver Hetherington-Page and Indelability Arts have also been consulted on the work. 

Daniel R Nixon (lefT, Kevin Spink and Naomi Price right. Photo © Brett Boardman/ Queensland Theatre

The audience meets Drizzle Boy on his first day of university, where he attends a physics lecture and develops a friendship with classmate Juliet.

Drizzle Boy loves space and dreams of being an astronaut, and the path seems straightforward, but as he continues...