Response Ability Theatre and MBU present

Anew

Funded by CLICK Arts Foundation
Supported by Old Diorama Arts Centre

In February 2025, RAT trialled a process of almost pure co-creation of an artistic output for the first time, having fallen in love with this style of working on specific elements of previous projects. It was such a profound experience for all of us that we have no doubt we will be doing far more of it in the future.

It all started when an artist and frequent attendee of RAT's core group, Bahja Mahamed, approached us with the first inkling of an idea for a film. Being a visual thinker, the image of a diamond as a framework to explore the concept of 'refuge' came to her mind first - and being a collaborator, the next thing that came to her mind was to engage as many more survivors as we could in finding out what that metaphor means to them.

Coercive control is a complex, insidious and woefully under-explored subject that lies at the heart of understanding how abuse germinates and survives in many aspects of our lives - from our personal relationships to institutional and societal functioning. It can be extremely difficult to describe, define and pinpoint out of context - but through art, we can call on images, phrases, words, movements, situations that everyone understands on some level. Because we've all seen it, whether or not we recognise it.

Knowing that this would be an experiment, we reached out to survivors with whom we have been working for a little while whom we knew to have embodied perspectives on the topic of coercive control for one reason or another, whom we thought would both have significant skills to contribute to the project and significant skills and/or personal growth to gain from it - and, of course, who we felt were ready to work generously, openly, playfully and gently with others on an undertaking like this.

The result was extraordinary: we had skilled writers turning to performance for the first time, skilled visual artists trying out writing, intellectual minds throwing themselves to playful abandon and people who usually struggled to find words contributing really complex thought, all to the tune of finding ways of expressing the inexpressible with the support of others also delving into unchartered artistic territory to communicate their truth and our collective truth.

This exchange of skills and use of multiple art forms at each stage of creation, as well as the final product, led to a process that everyone owned mutually, as everyone had taken both a teaching and a learning role in the space. Not only was this artistically the most fruitful method we could imagine, but it also mirrors what we as survivors want to see as an antidote to coercive control: a space in which everyone has something to give and something to learn; in which everyone's contributions are valid and valuable; in which everyone makes mistakes in the act of taking risks to deepen our understanding of each other and ourselves; and every mistake is a step towards a more thorough, compassionate and sturdy connection between us.

We believe now as fervently as ever that the most impactful art is the art that is created in processes that benefit the people the art reflects and represents. Audiences can see it, feel it, breathe with it. It's connection to others far more like ourselves than we realise - connection we rarely allow ourselves to make in our daily lives.

We hope the film resonates with you as much as it has with the audiences we have met so far.

"You've got us doing things we didn't realise we were comfortable doing. And we've done it without even thinking about it."

"Helped me understand a lot especially with where I'm at, and was a fun experience."

"Very grateful to you all for maintaining that delicate balance of expressing really painful stuff but making it fun."

"What a special space we created"

Co-created by
Sahar Beg
collective liberation
JP Desouza
Lisa Harbron
Nell Hardy
Jezebel
Bahja Mahamed
Claire Reay

From an original concept by Bahja Mahamed
Facilitated and scripted by Nell Hardy
Poetry by
Sahar Beg
JP Desouza
Lisa Harbron
Nell Hardy
Jezebel

Music by collective liberation

Cinematography and editing by Bahja Mahamed
with assistance from Avah Quak-Winslow