Guest Blog: 'It’s Demanding and Thrilling in Equal Measure': Director Caroline Bryant on Representing Female Neurodiversity in ARGOS ARCHIVES

In Argos Archives, the main character, ‘Woman’, invites the audience to have their fortune told by flicking through the pages of the Argos catalogue. Using the ancient practice of stichomancy (the jury is still out on the correct pronunciation!) Woman takes control of her life and offers the same for our audience, through the comforting order offered by the Argos catalogue. The audience will go on a journey with Woman, accompanying her through the archives of her life, conducted by the ‘book of dreams’.

It's Woman’s dreams we are focusing on in this new play, and through them, spotlighting the dreams of many neurodivergent women. Creating this play has been a two-and-a-half-year project, working with a group of neurodivergent young women, who formed our advisory board.

At Futures [Theatre Company], we strive to tell real women's stories on stage, so the script is inspired by our advisory board’s lived experiences. This process is lengthy, with many ethical considerations. Working in this way requires a generous and patient writer, and we are hugely fortunate to be working with Sabrina Mahfouz again (Sabrina co-wrote our show Offside), who is a brilliantly collaborative creative partner. The text and the design are informed by our advisory board participants, the result is a dynamic story, born from real experiences.

As a play about a neurodivergent woman, we committed to reflect that in at least 50% of our creative / performance team. Amazingly, we’ve actually achieved 80%, which makes for a richly creative rehearsal space with diverse experiences represented. We’re excited about how this will be reflected in the final production; so many unique voices being a part of the whole chorus.

One experience that many of us in the rehearsal room have in common is masking, a skill developed by countless neurodivergent women to manage in everyday life. We want to share this idea of ‘dual worlds’ with our audiences, the design of the production responds vibrantly to this challenge.

Working with motion video designers Charli Davis, Libertad Neves, and Sophie Bramley has been a developmental experience for me, building a visual language to enhance the script, and immerse audiences in the duality Woman experiences daily. I’m writing this blog in the third week of rehearsals, and it’s technically demanding and thrilling in equal measure.

Beyond our artistic team, we want to create a relaxed theatre-going experience for audiences. They will be able to get up, move around, leave and come back and generally have permission to be themselves in what is often seen as a formal space. We’re aiming to loosen the etiquette around being an audience member, rather than dimming aspects of the production, such as sound and light, that so many of our neurodivergent collaborators value. Striking a balance in meeting everyone’s needs is a challenge, but something we are consistently striving for, alongside our advisory board.

Opening night approaches and we can’t wait to share this Woman’s story. A nostalgic trip through the Argos catalogue (and everyone, we have discovered, has a story to tell about the Argos catalogue!) and a real celebration of those of us who have a unique point of view, who have something different to say and have maybe waited a while to say it.

We long to be part of an industry where all of our colourful, strange and delightfully odd stories are welcomed and amplified in theatres.

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