Fifers help shape new play which tackles stigma of living with HIV
Fifers living with HIV have contributed to a new play which was performed in the foyer of Edinburgh’s biggest theatre.
Going Viral was written by artist Drew Taylor-Wilson following workshops and conversations with 28 participants across Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Kingdom who are all living with the condition
The project was born out of HIV Aloud: Raise the Curtain - a joint initiative from Edinburgh Playhouse, which staged the performance, and Waverley Care and funded by £20,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund to meet the aim of reducing stigma and raising awareness around HIV.
Over the past six months, the group has come together to share their stories and co-create a script based on their collective experiences, deciding together to title it ‘Going Viral’
A script-in-hand table read was performed in the Playhouse foyer in July to a group of audience members that included the participants themselves, who, for the first time, heard their own stories performed as part of a moving theatrical piece by five professional actors.
Going Viral addressed head on the question that too often pulls focus from the person's humanity and evokes the most prejudice: transmission, or the 'how-did-you-get-it' story. Each actor portrays an array of personal stories, all distinct and worthy of empathy.
Drew Taylor-Wilson led them through weekly workshops which included exploring poetry, playwriting techniques and case studies, as well as regular conversation collections which would provide the material for the script. Further workshops included a practice in dramaturgy, stage craft, arts marketing and regular read-throughs of the developing script.
Audience feedback was overwhelmingly positive both from the participants themselves as well as other members approaching this piece purely as a theatregoer.
Katie Mitchell, ATG inspire producer, who led the direction of the project, said: “It's been a truly wonderful experience to work with Waverley Care and all the participants on this project.
“The feedback we've received about the impact the project has had on the participants and also on our audience has been overwhelmingly positive and successful, which proves the need for projects like this to exist.”