2016 Tour 
Reflecting on childhood, motherhood and marriage, Make Do and Mend is an innovative original play from Changing Relations, telling real life stories of County Durham women who have suffered and survived the trauma of domestic abuse.
Written in a verbatim format, Make Do and Mend invited its audience to experience first-hand, three poignant local stories, in a visually compelling and moving production.
Directed by Rachel Adamson and performed by an all-female cast, this powerful piece is part of the ongoing Women’s Voices project, and is full of heartache and humour.
We reached audiences 600 + in a number of venues including Bishop Auckland’s and Stanley’s Town Hall, The Witham in Barnard castle and a two night sell out in Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle.
We also successfully trialled the performance – together with a drama-based workshop – as a training tool for health professionals and housing officers, working with closely with Gentoo in Sunderland.
The 2 hour session offered an insight into Domestic Abuse, including:
- The breadth and reality of what it is, in line with the newly introduced law on Coercive Control;
- The damaging way in which it impacts victims;
- The kind of responses to victims that are more/less helpful;
- The way in which art and craft-based therapy groups can support victims’ recovery processes.
Read about our partnership here.
If you are interested in booking a training session for your organisation please follow the link to: Education, Products and Services
This work was been highly received on both a local and international platform, following an invitation to European Parliament by The Femm Committee and was supported by funding from Arts Council England, Awards for All and the Community Health Revenue Fund and Phillis Spearman Grassroots Fund with CDCF.
The performance discusses real Women’s true life experiences of Domestic Violence highlighting physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse.
thewomensvoicesproject 