Waterboarding Spoiled My New Fitness Regime

Having spent the last few months singing about Gay Eskimos at T in the Park, torturing Frodo and being tortured in return and making awesome pizza for Hannah, I wasn't getting much exercise.

I decided to remedy this by taking up swimming.

Swimming is the one form of exercise I actually enjoy and can actually do, so it seemed the obvious choice and off i went to the local sports centre with my towel, goggles and trunks ready to get some fit and feel a bit better about myself!

Little did I know that the horrors of the waterboarding experience during Drumhead would come back to haunt me. It had been over two months since I had been waterboarded during the run of Drumhead at the Tron Theatre and although the comedown from the experience had lasted a week or so, everything in my head had got back to normal. The nightmares had gone, as had the headaches, the feeling of depression, and the blocked nose.

When we decided to realistically portray the waterboarding scene, I was aware the experience would be unpleasant but I think the ignorance of not actually knowing what my body would do in such a situation (it’s just a wee bit of water on your face, how bad can it be?) made me think that it wouldn't be all that bad and I was sure I could handle it.

Then we tried it out and it was... well, horrible; the single worst experience of my life.

So I got a bit of a fright with that realisation, but it was the after effects that completely took me by surprise. It hadn't even occurred to me that I would be in shock, that I would feel depressed and cold and really sorry for myself. There we were in the director’s flat sitting, staring at the floor with nothing to say.

Feeling like hell, we put on a DVD of Back to the Future and had some whisky, things perked up a bit. (But if you’re a suspected terrorist you don't get a fine single malt and cult classic 80's movies. You just don't!)

So the after effects, because they were more of a surprise, seemed to affect me more than the actual act of waterboarding itself. And they stuck with me for a while!

So back to swimming!

I dropped into the pool without even a thought of Drumhead and began to swim. Of course, as i was swimming, my head went underwater and some water went up my nose and suddenly

I was in a blind panic. That feeling I endured during the play when I could feel the water running

into my nose, the intense stinging pain in my sinuses came back to me immediately. I came up, gasping for air. My heart rate was quite a bit faster and I could hardly catch my breath.

I did not dare go back under the water.

When I left the pool, got dressed and went home; all the after effects seemed to creep back. I felt exhausted, my nose was stuffed up and I was far from feeling happy. My headache had come back

and when I eventually managed to get to sleep that night, the nightmares returned.

So that’s what being waterboarded for 10 minutes every alternatenight for a week can do to you.

Makes you wonder how long the effects last when it’s done to you for hours every day, for months!

I have been swimming again since, but not without my trusty noseclips!

Drumhead....the play that just keeps giving!

Ben.