Outspoken tour comes to an end

The cast of Outspoken, William Ruane, Mary Gapinski and Steven Rae performed for the last time today in Davey Anderson's brilliant play about stammering. Here are some photos taken by Tim Morozzo.







You can see the rest here.
..or read more about the project here.

Hx

Thanks to our project partners British Stammering Association Scotland and our sponsors ScottishPower.

"Stammering is no joke"

Jan at BSA Scotland has just given me a heads up about an interesting campaign on YouTube.

The campaign, which is called 'Stammering is no joke', exists as YouTube has featured clips of people stammering under 'comedy'. There is a video by one of BSA's UK’s Trustees below. Whatever you think of YouTube’s policy on content, this is a really interesting debate and one that’s close to our hearts because of Outspoken.



Hx

NB. Outspoken is supported by ScottishPower.

Outspoken photos

I was lucky enough to escape from my desk for a brief while today, to grab some snaps of the Outspoken team who are in all this week working with playwright Davey Anderson and drama/stammering expert (and all round cool guy) Taro Alexander, from New York.











Hx

P.S. Davey...you're cool too!

Free drama for young people who stammer

OUTSPOKEN

Since August we have been working with young people aged 16-30 who stammer on a FREE weekly drama project called Outspoken. During the October week this group (and any others who wish to join us) will be taking part in a week-long course working with Taro Alexander, an actor, director (and himself a person who stammers) from New York. Email Louise Brown if you’d like to join us for this week.



OUR TIME - new for 10-15 year olds

As part of the October week, Taro will be running a special FREE drama session for 10-15 year olds. If you’d like to come along, the session will run from 10am-4pm on Tues 14 October at the Citizens Theatre. Parents are invited to take part for the last hour of the workshop. Contact Jan Anderson, British Stammering Association Scotland for more info: 08453 303 800 or click Jan to email.

Hx

Renata's blog - stammering project

Continuing our series of blogs by participants of Outspoken, here’s what Renata Uznanska had to say about the project for young people who stammer:

"I found out about the project through BSA, directly from Jan Anderson.

Outspoken drama sounds very interesting within itself. It was a hunger for new challenges, new experiences and new people, that brought me to Glasgow Citizens.

I wanted to broaden my imagination, teach myself from new situations, generally challenge myself. I did enjoy all the activities apart form Romeo and Juliet (I must admit politely). I would be happy to try the mime which I missed.

The social side was very, very positive and inspiring at the same time. I am expanding my wings of confidence in stammering very slowly. After another session I know I’ll progress much more strongly.

I hope to have the chance to join you all in August!"

Find out more about how to get involved here.



Hx

Campbell's blog - stammering project

More from our "Outspoken" Bloggers...

I heard about the project from my friend theatre director Morna Burdon, who sent me an email about the initial TAG workshops in spring 2007, by getting in touch, I also got involved with The British Stammering Association Scotland on the same night.



I initially went along hoping to get work as the writer of the play, at least shadow the main writer of it, as I’m a qualified screenwriter, whose looking to break into writing for the stage and was hoping to get work as the writer of the show. Things didn’t quite go to plan, and I am now doing the acting part instead, which to my total surprise/shock – I am thoroughly enjoying doing it! That fact is still a bit of a shock to my system to be honest, as I’ve previously worked as a theatre and film technician, as well as a screenwriter.

I’ve particularly enjoyed the improvisations, as I am better at thinking on my feet and ad-libbing than I am at remembering dialogue (weirdly considering I’m a screenwriter!) – though I can’t wait to do my Duck Variations with Siobhan next Thursday night.

The social side has worked out very well; I’m working with a bunch of folk similar to myself, and friendships have formed. I unfortunately can’t socialise with them as much as I’d like to as I’ve been fairly skint lately, due to being unemployed and I fell more comfortable if I am able to buy my share of the rounds down the pub after class.



I’m considering doing some work as a movie and television extra (something I got real experience of last summer, when I worked on a feature film - more by default than anything else though, as I was officially a crew member on that production). Doing these workshops has given more the impetus to go ahead and do it again, I am in the process of researching various avenues (oh, yes and a thank you to Louise for passing on a few extras agency addresses to me!) into it and how to go about doing it. I haven’t noticed any effect on my stammer as such, but I do feel a lot more confident now, than I have been for quite some time. My communication skills have always been good anyway, but I reckon I’m maybe a little less shy than I was before starting the workshops.

Think you could benefit from this? Click Outspoken for more details.

Hx

Siobhan's blog - Stammering Project

We are starting a wee series of posts from participants of our pilot drama project for young people who stammer. The next stage of this project, Outspoken starts at the Citizens on 28 August. If you're aged 16-30, stammer and want to find out more, click Outspoken. In the mean time here's what Siobhan wrote:

I first heard about the workshops through BSA Scotland. I knew TAG had organised a few drama workshops for people who stammer. I hadn’t been able to make it to these but had heard from people I know that they’d been fun. I came along because the workshops sounded like fun and different to anything I’d done before to do with stammering, particularly as there was scope for creativity. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to speak (and stammer) in a safe environment and meet other young people who stammer. Everyone who came to the workshops was really enthusiastic. Most of us hadn’t met before but as we were working in groups it didn’t take long to get to know everyone. A few people have started coming to the stammering self-help group that I’m a member of.



I particularly enjoyed the workshop based on the prologue of Romeo and Juliet. We’d covered it in higher English and had really only read it, so it was fun to put a bit more life into it. We worked on different sections of it individually, in pairs and in larger groups and it ended up feeling far more like the League of Gentlemen than high school. The workshops have helped to boost my confidence. A few months ago I’d never have believed I could get up in front of a group of people and act out a scene without feeling self-conscious and I certainly wouldn’t have believed that I’d enjoy doing that kind of thing. On the way to the first session, as well as being really nervous, I got lost and was running late and seriously thought about just going home, and I’m really glad I didn’t let that stop me.

It’s great to think that through this project we could improve the amount of information on stammering available in schools and make school a bit easier for people who stammer help other young people who stammer to do everything they want to do in life.

Think you could benefit from this? Click Outspoken for more details.

Hx

Let us play

An article from British Stammering Association Scotland's Blethers about our drama project with young people who stammer:

As people who stammer, we often feel trapped within ourselves, unable to give the world a true account of who we are. We accumulate layers of armour – inhibition, avoidance and self-censorship – that we hope will protect us from humiliation and rejection but that usually end up merely isolating us. By fixating on perfect speech as our sole means of relating to others, we become convinced that we are failures as communicators. But what if we moved beyond this assumption to consider that speech involves more than just avoiding hesitation, deviation and repetition? That communication involves more than just speech?


This is one of the aims behind an ambitious new project devised by BSA Scotland in collaboration with the Citizens’ Theatre in Glasgow that is bringing together young adults who stammer for a series of drama workshops. Through improvisation, play and spontaneity, the workshops, led by drama worker Louise Brown, encourage participants to lose inhibitions, to escape perceived limitations, and to take pleasure in using the whole body expressively.

At the first session, we were invited to introduce ourselves to fellow group members by sharing two truths and one lie about ourselves. Then, chatting in small groups, as if at a party, we spun endless yarns based on the lies. So we had a cat breeder who had produced a man-sized cat, a wealthy woman from Perthshire with a mildewy swimming pool, and someone who’d flown in from Greece specially to attend the session.

What is Posh and Becks’ love nest like? Or the Queen’s bedroom? Or Vin Diesel’s bathroom? These questions formed the basis of further activities as small groups collaborated to create their own visions of these bizarre worlds, which they then presented to the others.

In session two we explored status – what it feels like to adopt a high-status persona or a low-status persona and how this affects how we behave towards others. How might such a person walk … talk? We then played out all sorts of improvisations based on the interaction of pairs of ‘high’ and ‘low’: teacher and pupil; policeman and driver; parent and child. All were explored from both angles, so as well as a disdainful teacher tyrannising a pupil we were treated to a cocky teenager running rings around his ineffectual father.

This pilot series of workshops, and the group of young adults who stammer that is becoming established through it, will inform a longer term project, ‘Outspoken’, that proposes developing a piece of theatre on the theme of stammering. The resulting play will be performed at the Citizens’ Theatre and toured round selected secondary schools in the spring of 2009. Scottish Arts Council funding of £19,250 has already been secured and the balance for the project is currently being sought.

Meantime, we hope that through our participation in the current sessions we will become more confident all-round communicators who will feel able to express ourselves more freely wherever this matters in our lives.

Fellow participants have commented:
“The workshops have been brilliantly led. The pace is fast – exciting! I have learned that standing up and facing people in a crowd is not that difficult – even when they’re people with different perspectives. Being taught about gesture, the body and its place in space has made me more aware of self-expression and unconventional ways of communication.” “It’s really nice to meet people who have the same problem as you with speech, because it’s easier to say what you want when everyone understands you frequently have difficulty speaking. Everyone is friendly and we always have a good laugh.” “Working with the Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre has been creative, challenging and uplifting so far. I appreciate the sessions and wish to develop even more in an acting way.”

By Simon Vaughan

Calling all Stammerheids - Do you stammer?

We have been successful in our bid to get funding for a pilot project in collaboration with BSA Scotland.

We will be able to offer a programme of FREE WORKSHOPS for 16-21 year olds who stammer. These workshops will run throughout Spring/Summer 2008.

You may have read the article posted on our blog last week, to find out how to sign-up, check out our website. If you someone who may find this of interest, please pass on the good word.

Hx

Calling all ‘stammerheids’

This will win the entry as the longest blog post yet...
An article from the February issue of Scotcampus, national student newspaper about a planned collaboration between TAG and BSA Scotland:

What do Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Willis, Rowan Atkinson and Julia Roberts have in common? They are all famous actors who stammer. Stammering need not be a barrier to success, yet many people who stammer feel it does hold them back from fulfilling their potential.

The British Stammering Association Scotland (BSA Scotland) and TAG are collaborating on a project designed to offer confidence boosting, limitation-busting drama workshops to young people in Scotland who stammer. This pioneering project is aimed at 16 to 30 year-olds from all backgrounds, including students. The first phase of the project will hopefully take place in Glasgow at the Citizens' Theatre from late February-June 2008, subject to confirmation of funding. If you stammer and are willing and able to travel to central Glasgow, you are welcome to take part. Weekly evening workshops will be offered free of charge, with some funding available for travel expenses.

Jan Anderson, of BSA Scotland, reports, “The workshops will offer a relaxed space to explore self-expression through games, discussion and improvisation. The spirit of the workshops is very much about play, spontaneity, creativity, having fun and letting go. In a second phase, after the summer, we will bring in a professional writer to explore and develop an innovative piece of theatre that will challenge the stigma attached to stammering. This will be performed by actors at the Citizens' Theatre before touring selected secondary schools in Scotland. Project participants can get involved in these later stages to the extent they feel inspired to do so. It’s an incredible opportunity.”Guy Hollands, joint Artistic Director of the Citizens' Theatre and TAG, says, “TAG has a long and distinguished history of developing pioneering projects which seek to broaden the use of drama as a powerful tool to enable people of all backgrounds to express themselves. This project seeks to provide a fun and supportive environment in which people who stammer can explore a wide range of ways of communicating. It is an initiative that is long overdue and rare in the UK. We are delighted to be embarking on this partnership with BSA Scotland.”

Cian Bell, 21, is a film & photography student who stammers, who also volunteers for BSA Scotland. Cian started stammering around age 10 but comments, “My stammer and I weren’t properly acquainted until recently. I had chosen to take little notice of it. As a teenager, if I was in conversation and I stammered, I would simply pronounce ‘Hey, don’t laugh – I have a stammer’. Being upfront seemed like a necessary survival tool. I was able to counteract any negative reactions and keep my emotions intact. I was lucky to win over good friends who listened to me. On the down side, I was never really listening in conversation, but privately thinking, 'what should I say next?' to avoid stammering.”

“Last year, the mystery of my stammering and how to deal with it became more of an issue. I contacted BSA Scotland when I read about the pilot workshops. It was extraordinary that they were organising drama workshops just as I had been wondering if and when such a thing might come up! I was interested in working creatively alongside artists and fellow ‘stammerheids’. I can only say the workshops unleashed unknown aspects of my personality and changed my whole perspective on communication. It was hilarious and very entertaining to watch my new friends express themselves in such a wonderful and wacky way! I think I also became more self aware, more patient and a better listener.”

Ros Urquhart, 26, is a former art student and recently qualified art therapist. Her experiences were quite different to Cian’s. Roz’ first memories of stammering were around age seven. She was painfully shy and hated speaking out in class. She reports, “It seemed the only people who realised I stammered were my classmates. Nobody else talked about it and I couldn’t understand why. My way of protecting myself was to not speak.”

“By high school, I avoided speaking out as much as possible. Most teachers thought I was just quiet or disinterested. Despite doing well academically, it was suggested I would never cope with University.”

On leaving school Roz gained a place at Art College. She reports, “A lot of tutors didn’t know how to approach my stammering. Attitudes varied from one who cut out relevant articles and spoke to me about it to another who, after almost four years, still put his head in his hands when I talked about my work.”

Roz has come a long way. She now practices art therapy with people with a range of mental health issues through several projects in Edinburgh and Midlothian.

On the pilot drama workshops, she comments, “I always thought drama was for people who were confident in themselves and their bodies. I never thought I could stand up in front of people and express myself. The workshops allowed me to find a voice that was deep inside that hadn’t come out very much. We didn’t talk about the fact that we stammered. We just had fun!”

Campbell Lauder, 30, graduated in screenwriting for film and television. He was first aware of stammering at school, in primary two. He comments, “I began to be bullied about my speech. The odd thing was, I hadn’t actually realised I had a stammer, despite the fact that it apparently started around age three. I was too interested in what any six year old boy should be interested in – friends, toys, playing games, watching television, consuming fizzy drinks and getting into trouble.”

“In the years since, my stammering, and people’s reactions to it, has cast a dark shadow, which to this day I struggle to cope with. Attending the pilot drama workshops opened my eyes to the possibility that I could try new things and not be afraid.” Richard Perry, 22, is a final year civil engineering student who also participated in the pilot workshops. In addition, he has attended group speech therapy and a self-help group. He reports, “I was apprehensive at first but I got a lot out of the experience. The workshops undoubtedly increased my confidence in expressing myself in verbal and non-verbal ways. In the past I held back from speaking, but I have recently felt more able to put myself forward. This is a change I noticed in others as well.” Comparing the sessions to speech therapy he noted, “They took the focus of communication away from just speech. I am much more aware of how tone of voice, gesture and other aspects of body language affect self-expression. "

Join the project: Weekly evening workshops should hopefully start in late February at the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow. Details TBC. If you would like to take part or find out more, please contact: Phone/text: Jan Anderson 08453 303 800/Cian Bell 07731 302 018 Email here

Cian adds, “It doesn’t matter if you stammer a little or a lot – my own stammer appears unexpectedly, then disappears under my skin in the most mysterious fashion. You don’t need experience of speech therapy or drama either. Everyone says how different this is to anything they have experienced before – no dodgy play reciting, or performing in front of an audience…unless you really want to, that is. We hope you’ll consider coming ‘cos it could change your life…”

More info will be made available on TAG's website once funding is secured!