{"id":23,"date":"2018-09-11T13:38:40","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T12:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/?page_id=23"},"modified":"2018-12-08T13:51:57","modified_gmt":"2018-12-08T13:51:57","slug":"alains-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/?page_id=23","title":{"rendered":"Alain’s page."},"content":{"rendered":"

I am Alain English, and I\u00a0joined Stealth Aspies in it’s first year in 2017.\u00a0 Paul Wady, whom I have known\u00a0on the autism circuit for many years, approached me with the idea to do the show.\u00a0 The themes of\u00a0‘Stealth Aspies’ tie in with my current work as a poet and workshop facilitator.\u00a0 I\u00a0believe this show is important, and I am glad to be a part of it’s going process.\u00a0 My work with Stealth Aspies consists of performing on stage, helping to promote the show wherever we do it, and I also help develop and organise the material we perform.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was born in Alexandria on the coast of Loch Lomond, Scotland\u00a0in 1982.\u00a0 My family moved to Aberdeen on the North-East coast about three months after I was born. My younger sister Yvonne was born two years later in Aberdeen in 1984.<\/p>\n

I count myself very lucky to have been born into a loving and supportive family, who taught me responsibility and respect for others, as well as backing me up with everything I do.\u00a0 Nonetheless growing up was challenging and difficult, as it is for many people on the spectrum.\u00a0 I had the common experiences of bullying, isolation and mental health problems.<\/p>\n

In 1992, I joined the Aberdeen Scout Gang Show and developed a love of acting and performing that has stayed with me throughout\u00a0my life.\u00a0 When I was fourteen, I met Annie Inglis, a speech and drama teacher in Aberdeen.\u00a0 She introduced me to Shakespeare and the Aberdeen theatre scene, and later trained me to apply\u00a0for drama school.\u00a0 Annie passed away in 2010 and I miss her to this day.<\/p>\n

I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome aged sixteen\u00a0by a psychologist I was seeing in Aberdeen.\u00a0 The diagnosis only came about when\u00a0I handed the psychologist a summary of my life up until that point, as well as a list of patterns I had noticed in my own behaviour.\u00a0 My parents did not tell me about my diagnosis initially, and it was only after I came home drunk and humiliated from a student party that I learned about my condition.<\/p>\n

In 2004, I graduated from Robert Gordon’s University with an Honours Degree in Publishing Studies, and later moved to London where I gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Screen Acting from the International School of Screen Acting.\u00a0 Although I trained at a screen acting school, my experience before and since training has mainly been on stage.<\/p>\n

In 2007, I discovered poetry and starting writing and performing my own material in venues all across London.\u00a0 I later founded and ran a poetry night called Paper Tiger Poetry and have published a memoir and two volumes of poetry.<\/p>\n

The acting roles I have played include\u00a0King James in “5\/11” and Mark Antony in “Julius Caesar” (both Network Theatre) as well as the\u00a0Hotel Porter in “The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas” (Sedos Theatre).\u00a0 In 2017, I played William Butler Yeats in “The Playboy Riots” (Bread and Roses and Hen and Chickens Theatre).\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Living in London has not been without it’s difficulties.\u00a0 I struggled for a long time with unemployment and living independently.\u00a0 I have also to deal with mental health issues, discrimination and even hate crime.<\/p>\n

I work with support workers instructing them about supporting people with autism\/Asperger’s Syndrome, and have recently expanded\u00a0this into training employers.\u00a0 I am Artiste-in-Residence at the Tea House Theatre in Vauxhall, where\u00a0I founded Paper Tiger Poetry and regularly perform in rehearsed readings and shows, his most recent of which was ‘Auld Acquaintance: Sylvander and Clarinda”, about the love story of Robert Burns and Agnes McLehose. <\/span><\/p>\n

My website can be found at\u00a0<\/a>http:\/\/www.alainenglish.co.uk.\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am Alain English, and I\u00a0joined Stealth Aspies in it’s first year in 2017.\u00a0 Paul Wady, whom I have known\u00a0on the autism circuit for many years, approached me with the idea to do the show.\u00a0 The themes of\u00a0‘Stealth Aspies’ tie in with my current work as a poet and workshop facilitator.\u00a0 I\u00a0believe this show is … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Alain’s page.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stealthaspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}