{"id":2050863,"date":"2026-07-18T06:11:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T03:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2050863"},"modified":"2026-07-18T06:11:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T03:11:52","slug":"i-never-dreamed-id-go-on-stage-completely-bald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2050863","title":{"rendered":"‘I never dreamed I’d go on stage completely bald’"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/26ce\/live\/cbea6cf0-80ff-11f1-b983-cbe246fcd5da.png”]<\/p>\n

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\"CharlieCharlie Flint<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Actor and writer Emily Glaze is taking a one-woman show about alopecia to the Edinburgh Fringe<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“I thought ‘what would happen if I went on stage and just took my wig off?’ The reaction was quite big, people gasped and covered their mouths.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Actor and writer Emily Glaze has alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that causes sudden, patchy hair loss. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The 30-year-old from Telford started losing patches of hair at 16, before all of her hair fell out at 21, when she was in her final year of university.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s not really what you imagine, going out into the world,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Glaze is now taking a one-woman show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, based on her experiences of living with alopecia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The show Basic Bald B*tch, revolving around the fictional character of Amy, originally started as a 10-minute monologue which Glaze wrote for a scratch night – an opportunity for theatremakers to test short excerpts of works-in-progress – in 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“For a really long time I felt so much shame about the subject of having alopecia,” Glaze said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I got to a point in my life where I was really done with having to hide all the time and I found a lot of empowerment in performance.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She decided to go on stage at the scratch night and take her wig off, eliciting a powerful reaction from the audience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It was quite a shock for that performance. People would come up to me afterwards and have lovely positive things to say,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"CharlieCharlie Flint<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The show revolves around the fictional character of Amy, but bases many experiences on Glaze’s own life<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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One aspect of the condition that Glaze wants to raise awareness of her show is the myriad of different forms of alopecia and how they can present themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“A lot of people don’t realise – there’s an assumption that when you lose your hair, it’s completely gone forever,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It did mean at one point I had no hair. It’s grown back and fallen out four times in my life. I’ve had pixie cuts, I’ve been bald.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It can feel like that rollercoaster.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Glaze hopes the show will be seen by people with alopecia or other physical differences, to help them “feel really seen and heard, and feel empowered in their own skin.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She added: “There’s still not enough representation for people with physical differences. Especially when we’re in such an image-obsessed society.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For the 30-year-old, her work will now be performed at the world’s largest performing arts festival, after she felt like she needed to pursue her story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She concluded: “I’ve got to do this for me, for younger me, who would never have dreamed of getting up on stage completely bald.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Basic Bald B*tch is at Underbelly Cowgate at the Edinburgh Fringe from 5 August until 30 August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"CharlieCharlie Flint<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Glaze believes there is not enough representation of people with alopecia or other physical differences<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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What is alopecia areata?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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  • Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition that causes sudden, patchy hair loss<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    • It happens when certain immune cells mistakenly attack the hair follicles, stopping them from producing new hair, and in severe cases, hair is lost from across the body<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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      • It affects approximately one in every 1,000 people worldwide at any given time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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        • Living with alopecia can also be profoundly challenging, causing anxiety and stress<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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          • People may experience difficulty at school and in the workplace, and it can lead to social isolation <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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            Source: Alopecia UK<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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            Follow BBC Shropshire on <\/i>BBC Sounds<\/i>, <\/i>Facebook<\/i>, <\/i>X<\/i> and <\/i>Instagram<\/i>. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

            [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/ce3e36g1xqno”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/26ce\/live\/cbea6cf0-80ff-11f1-b983-cbe246fcd5da.png”] Charlie Flint Actor and writer Emily Glaze is taking a one-woman show about alopecia to the Edinburgh Fringe “I thought ‘what would happen if I went on stage and just took my wig off?’ The reaction was quite big, people gasped and covered their mouths.” Actor and writer Emily Glaze has alopecia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2050863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2050863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2050863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2050863\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2050863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2050863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2050863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}