Writer

I started creating my own solo work in 2018 with Don’t Follow Me: My Misguided Tour, partly because I was tired of waiting for opportunities and partly because I wanted to create something that actually sounded and felt like me.

Inspired by my years working as a ghost tour guide in Edinburgh, the show mixed storytelling, music, comedy, and acting in a self-aware exploration of my life, ambitions, frustrations, and “career”.

The following year, after a solo trip across South East Asia, I created Late Bloomers’ Tales, inspired by a question that had been quietly following me for years: am I too late, or simply a late bloomer? The piece explored that strange feeling of watching everyone else seem to move forward while you still feel lost, behind, or somehow out of sync with the world around you.

It went on to have over 100 performances across three Edinburgh Fringe runs, as well as performances in Italy, and was described as a “beautiful melody of optimism and acceptance” with “eloquently poetic monologues and fantastical musical numbers” (The Student).

Looking back, I realise I’ve always written about myself, my life, and the way my brain works. Even in my earlier work, I kept returning to the same thoughts and patterns without fully realising it at the time.

I am currently developing a new theatre piece inspired by my personal journey through recovery after many years of mental health challenges. During a week-long EPAD residency at Whale Arts in 2024, I completed the first draft of a five-character play, which I am now reworking into a more intimate monologue-based piece.

More than anything, I want this work to help create honest conversations around mental health and recovery without shame or judgement. I want to make something bold, human, and relatable — a piece that allows people to recognise parts of themselves in it, and perhaps feel a little less alone.

ANNA VANOSI