In Everything Is Going To Be KO, Kaiya Stone challenges our perception of learning difficulties by reflecting on her life from childhood to adulthood, coping with (unknown for the first 20 years) dyslexia, dyspraxia, and ADHD.
Here Kaiya chats to us about her diagnosis, opening up on stage and this year’s Edinburgh Fringe – check out what she has to say!
OMNIBUS THEATRE: How did you find translating your personal experience for the stage?
KAIYA STONE: It’s been a long journey. I’ve been making this show for basically 5 years – since having learning difficulties was mooted, I have been recording and translating what has happened to me. In general, it’s been fun. I love getting on stage, making people laugh and telling stories. It’s very important that it’s me and my experiences. On the flip side, there are lots of moments in this where it’s my shame and my sensory overloading. I’m not acting that but being honest and offering that to the audience is as empowering as telling the jokes.
OT: You were diagnosed as an adult, how did that alter your experience?
KS: It couldn’t be more pivotal to my experience. When I was diagnosed I desperately tried to find books, stories, articles – anything- that mirrored what I was going through. Almost everything is centered around parents helping young children. At that point, I knew how important doing the show would be. Because it’s actually not a rare occurrence. Most learning difficulties are hereditary and they aren’t a new thing, so there are generations of us who have never been diagnosed who at school were told they’re stupid. Now because kids are getting diagnosed parents are realising that they probably are neurodiverse too. Where are our stories? Because learning difficulties don’t disappear once you leave school.
“Almost everything is centered around parents helping young children. At that point, I knew how important doing the show would be.”
OT: What can audiences expect from Everything Is Going To Be KO? And what do you want them to take away?
KS: So in a simple sense, the show is made up of me and 2 projectors. I tell one story, following my experience through education. My aim is to represent an experience we don’t get to see much so that other neurodiverse people can recognise themselves (or not). I also want to be a rallying cry that having learning difficulties is not bad thing; they do not effect intelligence. Our education system is the thing that limits us more than our processing skills. If one person leaves feeling a little less alone and a little prouder of their neurodiversity, I’m happy.
OT: What role do the arts have to play in our perception of invisible disabilities?
KS: In Everything Is Going To Be KO, I use video and projection as a way try and visual translate the workings of my brain. The arts enable us to be able to at least try and create the impossible and the limitless. The invisibility of my disability is mostly my privilege but when trying to communicate the experience and the difficulties, language can so often fail. In theatre or film, I feel like the constraints of communication are momentarily lifted and I am in charge. The arts offer disabled individuals the freedom to communicate on their own terms rather than the terms of the able-bodied. But we need funding and support. More than just this, we need to rethink how art is made accessible because so many disabled individuals can’t consume the arts let alone make it.
“The arts offer disabled individuals the freedom to communicate on their own terms rather than the terms of the able-bodied.”
OT: What are you most looking forward to about Edinburgh Fringe?
KS: Edinburgh in August is one of my favourite worlds. It’s a microcosm. I love being in a place where normal rules just don’t apply. I love the busyness, the fact that basically you can see a show/ have a pint/ eat chips cheese and mayo at anytime day or night. There’s this fine balance of constant fear and constant euphoria. It feels like being the most alive. But most of all, I just can’t wait to do the show everyday.
Everything Is Going To Be KO will be at Omnibus Theatre on Mon 23 July, as part of our season of Edinburgh Previews – grab your tickets HERE
