New Ways To Speak

An black and white illustration by Sam Wannan which reflects his experience of Tourettes.

Written by Sam Wannan

I've always been better at getting across ideas with pictures rather than words. Syllables just get all tangled in my throat as I try to turn the pictures in my head into sentences that others understand. The thoughts in my head just don't flow chronologically I suppose, they are a tangled mess of ideas that I need to slowly unravel with scribbled notes and drawings.

My Tourettes has highlighted this for me, as sometimes my words (in the most physical and literal sense possible) do not work for me. Having your brain firing off sounds and movements you don't intend is a very difficult thing to describe to those who don't experience tics. I'm not sure I could describe what it feels like in words, but I could do it in a few pictures (above).

I'm attempting to do something similar here at ActNow, in the sense that I'm looking at things that are beyond my ability to verbalise, and finding out how I can try and represent them in new formats.

In my role here as Digital Innovator (a very fun job title to have) I have been trying to look at existing ways that ActNow presents work and have been trying to unravel and re-imagine them into possible new formats, from digital books to video games! Exploring the core aspects of what makes an ActNow forum theatre piece so powerful.

This has meant tapping into the tangled mess of my thoughts and attempting to re-look at some of these projects from new perspectives. Thinking about the audience's experience as they watch the piece, what do they think? How do they feel? What questions would they ask?

Trying to draw out something that reflects the beauty, pain and honesty present in their work. And then, exploring how the work could possibly be delivered in a new way that still allows all those important experiences and interactions to happen?

I'm beyond honoured to be working here with such a beautiful team of incredible talented humans. I am constantly in recognition that the work produced by ActNow speaks from lived experiences that I do not have, and am grateful to be in a position where I can hopefully work to amplify those voices in some small way.

Sam Wannan is a Digital Innovator at ActNow Theatre.