Meet Sonny, whose stammer makes it almost impossible for him to articulate his name. To his horror he is given a role in the school play, Hamlet - but through his relationship with his teacher, Mrs Wainwright, he gradually overcomes his fears.
The audience at the Bristol Old Vic is invited to see beneath the surface of 12-year-old Sonny’s symptoms as Wonder Boy begins, and we gradually learn of the psychological trauma through which his stammer has taken root. He gets himself into trouble as he struggles to articulate his words, his rage manifests itself physically when he gets detention for throwing a pair of scissors at another student.
It’s in detention that he meets the chatty and hilarious Roshi, who befriends him immediately, and it’s at that same moment his relationship with Mrs Wainwright begins. Mrs Wainwright’s cynicism and exhaustion with a school system obsessed with league tables does not inhibit her ability to relate and empathise with the students.
