DAVID REILLY

DESCRIBING his teenage years as "horrendous", Campbell Lauder recalls the difficulties of growing up with a stammer. "I could hardly say a word," he explains.

Lauder is among the 1% of young people in Scotland who stammer, and who are often the victim of bullying, ridicule and chronic embarrassment. Now a charity and a theatre company have joined forces to help those affected by this condition, albeit in what sounds like a very unlikely way: putting them on stage.

The stammering drama project is a new scheme established by the British Stammering Association (BSA) and TAG Theatre in Glasgow, designed to give young stammerers the opportunity to take part in drama workshops.

The scheme will offer a pilot series of free confidence-boosting drama workshops to help young Scots (aged from 16 to 30) from all backgrounds who stammer. These workshops will inform the development of Outspoken, a planned longer-term collaborative project by the organisations.

The workshops have been developed to help participants build self-confidence. They offer a relaxed and safe space in which to speak in public. As well as being fun, they are designed to provide young people with an opportunity to explore self-expression and creativity through discussion, improvisation and games.

Jan Anderson of the British Stammering Association Scotland says: "The spirit of the workshops is very much about play, spontaneity, creativity, having fun and letting go. Project participants can get involved to the extent they feel inspired to do so. It's an incredible opportunity."

Guy Hollands, artistic director of the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow, the parent company of TAG Theatre, says: "The workshops seek to explore a wide range of ways of communicating. The initiative is long overdue and rare in the UK. We are delighted to be embarking on this partnership."

For many people who stammer, speaking in public or performing in any way might be thought of as inconceivable. But the organisers at TAG Theatre believe that by providing a supportive space to facilitate free expression, a new world can be opened up. Lauder, 30, graduated in scriptwriting from Bournemouth University in 2006, and has worked on a number of film-making and writing projects.

"I've always worked behind the scenes but never in front of people on stage. Attending some taster sessions has given me the opportunity to try new things and come up with new ideas."

The project is proving to be a great source of support to its members, who have often suffered from low self-confidence and feelings of isolation. Roz Urquhart, 26, says: "I denied that I had a stammer for years, but everybody else knew. It was when I went to speech therapy at the age of 16 that I began to accept it." She describes herself as being painfully shy at school, and adds: "My way to protect myself was just not to speak."

A qualified art therapist, she says attending the taster sessions has given her the chance to meet other young people who stammer. "I thought I was the only person who stammered, or those who I had met were much older than me. It felt really good when I met other young people," she says.

Urquhart says she has always been interested in drama, but never felt able to take part until now. "I was really excited about the pilot workshop, and at the same time nervous, but it was good fun," she says. "The workshops have helped me develop a lot of confidence and to do things that otherwise I wouldn't have been able to."

Cian Bell, 21, is a student of film and photography at Napier University in Edinburgh. He began to stammer when he was about 10 years old, but said he still had a happy childhood. However, when he started university, his stammer became more of an issue.

"When I was 19 and at university, with all the pressures that brings, my stammer came on again," he explains. "I went to speech therapy and didn't like it, because I wasn't inclined to practise reading out loud at that age.

"I began to look for other, more creative ways I could help my speech and be around others at the same time, and that's when I thought about doing drama."

The theatre group's weekly evening drama workshops are running until June at the Citizens', so would-be participants still have time to get involved. If funding is secured, the project will commission and develop a new play to challenge the stigma attached to stammering. The development period for the play will be the autumn, and the production will tour schools in Scotland next year.

Kelly Brown, a Scottish international rugby player, is a keen supporter. "I think the project is fantastic. It is important that young people go out there and do things, and don't let their stammer hold them back," says Brown, who stammers and is involved with the BSA.

Brown, who played in Scotland's shock Six Nations victory over England, adds: "I think confidence plays a massive role, and this project should help young people get the confidence they need to get out there."