All the Things You Ever Wanted to Say (July 2012)
The power of drama and the glory of silence
This weekend was a fun and personal development experience for survivors of domestic violence and their children based at Okehampton Youth Hostel.
Imayla worked in partnership with Common Wealth, a theatre group working in Bristol delivering theatre performance on the effects of domestic violence. They were successful in raising Arts Council funding to take away some of the women whose testimonies they had gathered for the performance and to explore how drama and the outdoors could affect their sense of power and hope. Twelve women and fifteen children attended. The aim was also to demonstrate to organisations working with survivors of domestic violence how going away to a wild and different environment can effect change. The weekend consisted of drama workshops for the woman and arts and environmental workshops for the children, a walk on Dartmoor, and stories and exchanges around the fire for all participants.
The participants were referred from two voluntary sector organisations working in Bristol with families experiencing domestic violence, Survive and Next Link, and worked closely with the Domestic Abuse services in Bristol and BANES (Bath and North East Somerset) with the Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) supporting the weekend as a volunteer. A worker from Family Learning in Plymouth was employed on a freelance basis to support the weekend with the families that attended.