Sanctuary Queer Arts offered support to performer and playwright Kirsty Pickering in the development of their solo piece ‘WAVER’ in April 2023. 

Kirsty is a queer, non-binary actor/theatre maker/producer from Dalbeattie in Dumfries and Galloway. They are interested in multi-art-form performance highlighting mental illness in young people.

‘WAVER’  explores what it means to live with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD/BPD) and Audio Visual Hallucinations (AVH). 

Kirsty successfully fundraised for a 2 week development of the piece allowing for them to bring together a team of specialist artists to enhance their skills and understanding in sound design, live sound, writing, dramaturgy, movement, and performance. 

Sanctuary is committed to supporting queer artists in all stages of their career and development and ‘WAVER’ allowed for a pilot of how we can offer producing and infrastructure to independent artists already on a creative exploration of an idea.

The development took place over 2 weeks. Week 1 was a residential development week for the team in Dalbeattie and Week 2 took place in Tron Theatre, Glasgow, culminating in a sharing of the work to industry contacts and guests.

The WAVER team was:

Kirsty Pickering - Writer/Performer

Drew Taylor-Wilson - Director/Dramaturg

Gary Cameron - Multi Instrumentalist Sound Designer

Lucy Wild - Movement Director  

Scout Rexe - Additional Dramaturgy Support

This project would like to thank the Lisa Keenan and the Tron Theatre for their venue support in week 2 of the development.

“I was lucky enough to work with Sanctuary Queer Arts for the development of my first solo show WAVER. We spent 10 days, both in Glasgow and Dumfries & Galloway, exploring the show which culminated in a sharing at the Tron Theatre. 

The development wouldn’t have ran as smoothly as it did without the involvement of Sanctuary - who were able to take the producing reins from myself and organise contracts, rehearsal space, tech, invites and more. Their help gave me the space to focus on the writing and devising. It would have been a mare without them!”

 Kirsty Pickering