Storytelling meets sketch meets secrets: Tamlynn Bryson talks “Bedwetter” 

Tamlynn Bryson has a big secret, and she’s going to spill it. 

On stage, in front of live audiences in her solo show Bedwetter. 

The show comes to The Assembly Theatre in Toronto on June 4^th and 5^th, before playing Fringe festivals in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Edmonton over the summer. The autobiographical show is based on Bryson’s experience of wetting her bed every night until she was 15 years old.  As a child and a young teen, this was her deepest, darkest secret, but through the play’s storytelling and humour, she has destigmatized it and connected with audience members in a deeply personal way. 

Since its debut in 2017, Bedwetter has earned both critical awards and popular acclaim. The show has inspired kindred spirits to share their own stories of bedwetting, and has also struck a broader chord with people who have always felt . . . a little different. 

Originally from Ottawa, Ontario, Bryson completed the BFA Acting program at the University of Windsor in 2015. After graduation, she explored a range of acting styles and methods through various programs in Canada and the US. A well-rounded and skilled performer, she studied Shakespeare with the Summer Academy at Stratford, and Sketch Writing and Standup Comedy at the Second City Training Centre in Toronto. But her true passion is creating original work. Since graduating, she has co-created and performed Bedwetter and a second original solo show (in)decision. She has toured both to various Fringe Festivals across Canada, winning multiple awards. 

In addition to performing in theatre, Bryson has also worked on the series Cookie Biscuits Comedy (2016), Business Inc (2021) and Haunted Hospitals (2018). She is also well known on the Toronto stand-up circuit, having performed at various comedy clubs across Toronto. For five years, she was a member of the sketch comedy group Cookie Biscuits, and she is currently a member of the sketch comedy group Boy Girl Party. 

For obvious reasons, Bryson’s star is rising. Not only is she skilled at telling authentic and relatable stories, she possesses sharp comedic timing and a knack for physical humour. Ahead of Bedwetter’s two-evening run at The Assembly Theatre, she chatted with SesayArts Magazine about her pursuit of a career in theatre, her show-stealing turn as Little Red Riding Hood in her first-grade play, the conception and development of Bedwetter  — and seven must-know “fun facts about Tamlynn”.

SM: Let’s start with you. Can you tell us a little about you and why you chose to pursue a career in theatre?

TB: I suppose the short answer is that I’ve always loved it. I started taking drama classes at a very young age and it was always the highlight of my week.

The longer answer is more complicated, as this is a question that I repeatedly ask myself as well. I suppose that I’ve found that there is just something about acting, and live theatre specifically, that I have not yet been able to find elsewhere. I love the escape that it can provide, the emotions it can evoke, and also how it can use humour to make an effective and hard-hitting point. I love the feeling of sitting in a theatre and knowing that you are experiencing a fleeting moment along with the rest of the strangers in the audience and all of the performers. (Yes, they may perform this show 1000 times, but this exact moment will never exist again). I hope to be able to give to at least one person the feeling of magic that I have felt countless times in the theatre.

The silly answer is that in grade one I played Little Red Riding Hood in my first ever play, and at the end of the show I tripped on my cape and fell in front of everyone. I’ve been trying to make up for it ever since.

SM: What would you like us to know about Bedwetter. What will the audience experience at the performance?

TB: I describe the show as “storytelling-meets-sketch.” Within the show I switch back and forth between being myself, telling the story, and various “cutaways.” Some of these moments are literal re-enactments of my past, and some are much more abstract. (Diaper shopping as a Mission Impossible sequence is one of my personal favourites). In short, we’ve strived to make the show full of surprises, humour, and heart.

SM: Would you like to speak about the themes of the piece and how they’re being conveyed through storytelling and humour?

TB: Of course! While most audience members will not have experienced this particular story, we are confident that the themes appeal to a much wider group. At its heart, Bedwetter is a coming of age story and touches on issues that many people experienced in their childhood to one degree or another: being bullied, feeling out of place, having a secret and being afraid to share it, worrying that your friends and classmates may judge you, and so on. Which sounds very heavy when I write it all out…but I promise the play is a comedy!

I think the key thing we tried to hit with this show is “laughing with” vs “laughing at.” One of my greatest fears when I wet the bed was that I would be mocked for it, so it was a very empowering thing to turn the situation on its head and tell the jokes myself. But of course, the jokes I’m telling are not mean-spirited. (They are also often quite absurd. Again, think Mission-Impossible-diaper-shopping…)

SM: I read with interest your comment that the “show that details the true story of how I wet my bed every night until I was 15 years old. As a child and a young teen this was my deepest, darkest secret”. What led you to the decision to reveal your secret and to do it in front of a live audience?

TB: On the Fringe circuit, there are always a myriad of fascinating and creative storytelling

shows. I remember watching one of these shows in the summer of 2016 and thinking to myself “Wow, I wish I had a unique experience that I could turn into a show, but nothing that exciting or different has ever really happened to me. Well, except for that thing about wetting the bed until I was in high school, I guess…” That was where the first glimmer of Bedwetter appeared.

In terms of “revealing the secret,” I actually discuss that journey a lot in the play itself, so I may pass on answering that one for now…

SM: Do you want to speak about why you thought that your bedwetting would make a good show and the developmental journey from conception to production?

TB: In 2017, I got a spot at the London, Ontario Fringe, and I knew I wanted to write a new show for it. One day I was talking to a friend about different ideas, and when I mentioned this one he responded immediately with “that’s a story I’ve never heard before. That’s really interesting.” When I later approached my creative partner, Kyle Kimmerly, with several ideas for a new show, he responded with similar excitement about this concept. And so we started working on Bedwetter.

Kyle and I had already created a show together a couple years prior, so we had a good grasp of our combined writing style; we both like to utilize improvisation and write on our feet. The early writing days were a lot of good old fashioned storytelling – we would sit in one of our living rooms and I would tell various stories that I remembered about my bedwetting days. He would take note of which stories and themes were the most interesting, and then we would begin to rework and explore those sections.

We also knew we wanted very theatrical and metaphorical elements to this show, and so we spent a lot of time brainstorming various silly situations. If a diaper could talk, how would it feel about this? What about the bladder? The garbage can? If a scenario felt like a nightmare sequence, we would try it as a literal nightmare, and so on. We would explore these ideas on our feet, and then would continue to refine the bits that worked. This led to some of my favourite moments of the show, such as the diaper as a Drill Sergeant. It also led to some very interesting pieces on the proverbial cutting-room-floor; we explored the plastic bedsheet as an evil, loud, crinkly monster for weeks before admitting it didn’t have a place in the final production.

And of course, we’ve continued to hone the piece over the past few years of performing it. This punchline isn’t hitting, let’s change it. Can we specify this section? Should we reword this sentence? And so on and so forth. Kyle and I both believe that in theatre, a piece is never truly “finished.” Through performance we continue to sculpt and polish it.

SM: What was the greatest surprise to come out of creating and performing Bedwetter? Any challenges?

TB: The most unexpected and amazing moments of performing Bedwetter were having people approach me after seeing the show and revealing that they had gone through the same thing. We thought this would be an interesting show because it’s a story that many people haven’t heard before; we somehow weren’t prepared for the positive responses from all the audience members who had already lived it. I’ve had various people – ranging from a 14-year old girl to a man in his fifties – approach me in tears because they were so moved at seeing their past experiences represented onstage. These moments have been far and away the most rewarding moments of my career.

One of the biggest challenges with this piece was learning to play myself onstage. In developing Bedwetter, I discovered the ways in which storytelling is truly its own artform. It requires a unique brand of vulnerability to stand onstage, as yourself, and tell your own embarrassing stories (to a crowd of people staring directly at you, nonetheless). 

This was an aspect where Kyle’s direction was infinitely helpful. Kyle and I have been friends for many years, and so he was able to easily pinpoint the moments where my nerves were affecting my performance. Over the years I’ve grown much more comfortable with the storytelling element, but it was quite an adjustment at first!

SM: What would you like us to know about you, even beyond or outside of the arts… anything that might surprise us?

TB: Hmmm…okay, a few fun facts about Tamlynn!

1. One of my hobbies is taking heels dance classes with “Your Dance Class.” They’re so fun and empowering, I would recommend them to absolutely everyone.

2. I am always slightly warm, and I currently live in an apartment without air conditioning…so that’s great…

3. One of my personal goals is to run a half marathon, but I hate running when it’s really hot out (see above), so I have yet to complete one. BUT I did make it to 15k last year!

4. I love watching magic shows, I think they’re just so cool and so impressive! (My current partner is a professional magician…but he is now retired. Once every few months when he busts out a magic trick, it makes my whole week.)

5. As a kid I would often re-enact the entire “First, I’ll turn him into a flea…” monologue from The Emperor’s New Groove with great accuracy. I would continue well into the next scene when they poison Kuzco. My mom thought it was really, quite impressive. You should be impressed.

6. My lockdown-hobby was learning to do embroidery (and now I’m selling unique pieces as Bedwetter show merch).

7. I got my tonsils removed in grade six because they were HUGE, and the doctors thought it might improve my snoring. It didn’t.

SM: The final word is yours! What question didn’t I ask you that you wish I had (and what is the answer?).

TB: I think you really covered it all here! I guess all that I would say is that I’m really quite proud of this show. It’s gotten great responses from both audiences and critics, and would love to share it with as many people as possible.

Reserve tickets to the Toronto performances of Bedwetter, presented by Drawing Board Productions, here.

© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2022