My Percussive Lips

"The potential for people’s growth, change, self discovery and self identity seemed vast . . . it felt like a direct challenge to the narrative that predominates in society about the superiority of fluent voices, paving the way to embracing and celebrating verbal diversity."

Our Story

In the beginning: a simple idea,

a race.

a crimp.

a poem.

A drum beat.

In 2020 the first images slowly revealed the beginning of a work in 2021 under the fusing of a small team.

Backed by partners and collaborators, the project moved its way through its first R&D in 2022 after securing Arts Council England funding, to explore the identity behind the voice and the perception of stammering.

Continuing with the involvement of the stammering community in the creative process, the Creative Engagement refreshed itself by incorporating Speech and Language Therapists, furthering the exploration of the discovered therapy applications within the creative workshops.

The workshops stand alone, whilst indirectly influencing the direction of the Theatre Research.

In 2023, this research dives forward into excavating a singular story, through the non-product driven experiments conducted during its previous and new phases of R&D. This work is made of a team of disfluent & fluent artists, exploring how we have told stories throughout history, and implementing disfluent-art and combined practice.

The way we tell stories reflects how we listen, and expands into redefining our social voice.

Research & development

Explore how the project has developed through its previous and current phases of research and development.

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connection communication fluency self expression story telling

ARTIST, 2022

"I think this is really precious. This is a work; this is what we’re doing – connecting at this human level."

"It has really felt like a conversation that hasn't happened."

Participant, 2022

"I think the 'unusual interactions' will be translatable into strategies for conversational interactions."

ARTIST, 2022

"I'd say it's probably the most enjoyable thing I've done, since graduating - 10 years ago! - Just because of what it means . . . we're in a progressive period in the world where things are starting to gain traction."

Direction

theatre research

Investigative research into how the modern culture tell stories; unfolding narratives, challenging preconceptions to disability and disfluency, proposing the question of

"how do we listen?"

creative engagement

A collection of creative workshops designed to give stammering/dysfluent participants the opportunity to explore and experiment in self expression, vocal identity and combining communities.

The project builds and expands itself in response directly to the stammering community. As it has now spread its reach by encompassing multiple forms of art, storytelling and dialogue; the work dives forward to the development of a single tale, with the concept and vision of being told and performed dysfluently with the bombardment of polyrhythmic beats.

To learn more of the tale so far, click the icon below:

The creative engagement workshops solidifies the relationship the project has with the stammering community. These workshops are for children, young people, adults & parents/guardians of those who stammer. Speech and Language Therapists are invited to explore the therapy applications derived from Jonathan's drama school training. To find out more about the creative engagement workshops, scroll below to the 'Upcoming Workshop' section.

User

"The value of your approach is underestimated in the current research literature"

Speech & Language Therapist 2022.

The sound of the work

Click on the play icons to listen to the rough recordings from the experiments & work from the workshops and rehearsals from the R&D in 2022. These sounds were created spontaneously within the theatre studio, with a mixture of professional artists and stammering participants. All recordings are copyrighted by Jonathan Hunter, 2022 ©.

Upcoming workshops

Creative Workshops held in Manchester & London.

(TBC)

Participant, MPL R&D 2022

"The workshop inspired me to explore the child inside me and let go of my inhIbitions to step outside my comfort zone."

Welcome to

The News

Creative MPL workshops were held for a mix of adults, families and children at STAMMA Fest Global, an international conference on stammering, held on 24th-28th August 2022 at the University of Liverpool, UK. It combined STAMMA's biennial conference with the 14th World Congress of the International Stuttering Association.

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"Creativity will speak to people who don’t easily fit within traditional models of support"

Speech & Language Therapist, MPL, STAMMA Fest Global 2022

The STAMMA ARTS NETWORK was co-founded by Jonathan whilst at the start of MPL R&D 2022, which he still currently leads. The network's aim is to connect stammering artists from all over the world whilst providing them with a platform.

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"I found out about resources I didn't even know existed and will be hoping to use in the future!"

Network Member, 2023

STAMMA introduced the world's first award ceremony celebrating stammering portrayals in the media. The Theatre Showcase highlights new and upcoming theatre productions, where My Percussive Lips was nominated.

The event, held on the 16th March 2022, was part of STAMMA's campaign "No Diversity Without Dislfuency". The campaign was all about pushing for greater representation on and off-screen.

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"We're really excited about this one!"

STAMMIES Presenter, 2022

Past & Present

Funders & Partners

Thank you to all collaborations big & small, and to the committed project partners and funders. This growing community influence the qualitative direction and maintain the honesty and dedication to the work.