WIRED is a story about the individuals behind the uniform. Told through the lives of three woman, WIRED is the story of a young soldier’s journey through post-traumatic stress; Joanna, the young soldier, her mother and an older soldier who represents the many voices of the military as experienced by the young Joanna.
10-25 August 2018 (except 13/20 August), 2.30pm Army @The Fringe, Hepburn House, East Claremont Street.
Response to questions for Gareth K Vile theatre editor of The List.
How do I define mental health?
My background
prior to writing was in Social Work and Counselling, that along with personal
experience strongly influenced my understanding of mental health. I see mental
health as a spectrum, ranging from mental well-being to mental ill health, and I
believe that we can all travel back and forth on that spectrum during our
lives. The definition and cause of diagnosed mental illness has long been
debated, this is not my area of expertise. Scientific and medical developments
continue to improve our understanding of the brain and its functions and
supports understanding, research and treatment.
As human
beings we experience emotions because of life, how we understand and express those
emotions and experiences is what supports, helps or hinders our mental health. Life
is challenging and navigating our way through it can take its toll on our
bodies and our minds. With our physical health we are taught what to eat and
drink and what exercise we should do to support good health, we are less
familiar with what supports our mental health and well-being. Everyday things
like relationships, family, school, work etc can impact on our mental health, traumatic
events like death, loss, abuse, accidents, war etc can, for some people, have a
profound effect on their mental health but like our physical health, everyone
is unique and how we respond is unique. For some an event is so traumatic that
the ability to function in the world becomes impossible, for others it is
simply something to be navigated and worked through.
How we are
supported in our mental well health and how we self-support is, I believe, the
crucial issue. Stigma around physical ill health is rare, we talk about health
all the time, we share stories about being in hospital, going to the doctor,
what remedies we are using, what the latest healthy eating fad is, but mental ill
health is still a dirty secret, hidden from view and often experienced in
silence.
What areas of mental health are you
looking at in the performance?
WIRED is
the story of a young woman soldier’s journey through Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder. Although this is a story about the impact of war on the young
soldier, it is also a story about a family, loss, silence and secrets. During
deployment to Afghanistan, Joanna, witnesses a traumatic incident and struggles
to deal with the memories, flashbacks and voices that wage war inside her head.
As with many people who experience trauma, this incident triggers an earlier
unresolved and forgotten trauma and Joanna begins to re live both events,
struggling at times to know the difference between past and present.
Suicide is
also explored in this play as an unspoken issue, but it plays a crucial role in
the story on many levels; during war, because of war, as an act of war,
deliberate, accidental and as a result of mental illness. It is something that
affects characters both present on stage and in the background. (I don’t want
to give too much away at this stage!)
In what ways do you hope that your play can
help the audience to move forward in their understanding and actions towards a
greater sense of mental good health?
WIRED is
described as a ‘journey through’ Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the play
Joanna tries to continue to work by ‘pushing it down’, when she returns home
she does the same by using drink and drugs to suppress her thoughts and
feelings. When things reach a critical point, she is introduced to a service
that supports her to explore her story and unravel the complexities of the
multiple traumas experienced.
The issues
raised in WIRED affect everyone. Although it is a story about a young woman
soldier’s journey through Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, it is also a story
about love, loss and relationships which impact on everyone’s mental health in
both positive and negative ways.
Throughout
the play Joanna mirrors a view that that is often held. ‘Push it down’ is a
phrase that I picked up from interviews with soldiers, but it is a well-rehearsed
way of being across society, ‘push it down’, ‘keep it to yourself’, ‘pull
yourself together’, ‘cheer up’ are all phrases used with the best intentions
but with the worst consequences.
As can be seen in the play, when Joanna tries
to push it down she becomes more and more unwell.
The
structure of WIRED is deliberately developed to show the young woman telling
her story. Being seen, heard and understood in the world that we live in is how
we experience being valued, and supports our mental health. In the play the
young woman gets the chance to tell her story and has the opportunity not only
to be seen, heard and understood but also to change the way that she understands
it and herself.
And given the high-pressure nature of the Fringe,
do you have any ideas about positive self-care during August in Edinburgh.
Last
year was my first Fringe and despite my well-rehearsed self-care package in
place I still got to the end of August exhausted both physically and
emotionally, vowing never again! I often hear experienced Fringe people saying,
‘It’s a marathon not a sprint’, which I think is good advice.
The amount of
work it takes to get a show to the Fringe is grossly under estimated and under-valued
and most people work long hours for no pay. I’ve learned that it is important
to make sure that you have a good team around you who are not only pulling their
weight but supporting each other. The Fringe is a hotbed of expectation and
disappointment, where emotions run high and low and best friends can become
sworn enemies overnight when reviews come in. I think what I learned last year
and am holding close to my heart this year is to keep my feet on the ground and
remember that the Fringe comes and goes but life, love and relationships go on
beyond August. This year I intend to keep my expectations at a reasonable
level, pace myself and above all enjoy being part of the greatest festival in
the world.
Following training, Joanna is deployed to Afghanistan and believes that she is prepared for what lies ahead. What she is not prepared for is a visit from her past. As the realities of war close in around her, Joanna struggles to make sense of the voices, memories and flashbacks that wage war inside her head.
Award-winning Playwright, Lesley Wilson, undertook extensive research with serving, reservist and veteran soldiers and spent time with both military and civilian mental health professionals whilst writing WIRED.
WIRED was originally developed with support from Playwrights’ Studio Scotland and Tron Theatre Creative.
Following its Fringe run WIRED will be touring Arts venues and Army Barracks across Scotland.
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