Adam

I first met Adam when he was a shy young teen, and participating in a community production at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow. He got up at one point and told a mini monologue about his life. In the space of 8 minutes or so, I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing, that this young teenager had travelled across continents and gender, fled for his life, and survived 600 days of isolation in a flat in Glasgow, on the verge of extreme bodily harm in order to be his true self.

I approached him then, really just fascinated by his story and we kept in touch over quite some years before the show finally found its home as a production with the National Theatre of Scotland. I brought the brilliant writer Frances Poet on board, and she gently and sensitively teased out the details of his story. Adam was always keen for his story to be out there to help others but at the beginning had no desire to actually be in the show. He was however happy for me to find an actor to do so. As it transpired, after searching the length and breadth of the country, I was really struggling to find someone to play this role, and Adam had sent me a message, saying maybe he could audition. He wanted to be treated as any other actor. He came in, nervous but focussed and was just incredible. I think the added power of having the real person performing this story was actually mind-changing for many people. We also connected with hundreds of trans and non-binary people around the world in order to create our Virtual Trans Choir.

My brilliant assistant at the time, Leonie Gasson managed to connect with people from Norway to Nigeria, Brazil to Russia. They were brave enough to send us pictures and videos of themselves singing along to the composed piece of music – a stunning creation by Jocelyn Pook – which is the climax to the end of the show.  I must have watched that video a thousand times, but seeing all their faces singing together in far flung continents, many of whom would be in severe danger of arrest or harm for being outwardly trans, never fails to move me and inspire me.

Adam is still a very dear friend and seeing him grow as an actor and as a person through touring this show and working together on the screenplay has been a huge joy for me.