By VIVIENNE NICOLL
CHILDHOOD trauma suffered by two Glasgow men have helped shape a new production to be staged at the Tron Theatre.
Suicide rates among men in Britain are believed to be at their highest level for more than a decade with parts of Scotland the highest in the country.
New research suggests childhood trauma is one of the leading causes of substance abuse and depression in later life.
Writer Mariem Omari decided to look further into the issue and carried out a series of interviews with men across Scotland including a Northern Irishman living in Glasgow, a recovering addict from the East End, a Scottish Pakistani Muslim and an Indian Sikh.
Their stories and the impact of adverse childhood experiences resulted in One Mississippi which will be staged in the city next month by Bijli which is company in residence at the National Theatre of Scotland.
Ms Omari lived in the Middle East and North Africa for five years where she worked with some of the most vulnerable people in the region.
She said: "There are very few, if any, pieces of verbatim theatre on the issue of men and childhood trauma and none that look at it from a Scottish context. One Mississippi addresses this gap.
"The performance is very dynamic and combines physical theatre with storytelling."
Her previous work If I Had A Girl, which explored real life stories of honour based violence in an Asian-Scots wedding, sold out at its Glasgow showcase last year and during its Scottish tour in March this year.
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