Ground breaking play on domestic violence to be staged in North Bristol council house

The highly aclaimed play Our Glass House, which powerfully depicts domestic abuse will be staged for the second time, this time in a disused council house in Lawrence Weston, in the week beginning 15th October.
Tickets are free but must be booked in advance  http://goo.gl/gXuyD or on 01170037771  

“This play is unique in the UK in allowing the audience to let themselves into the house and in each room witness the chilling reality of how domestic abuse can build up behind closed doors,” said Evie Manning who co-directed the play with Rhiannon White for the Bristol based  Common Wealth Theatre Company. This production is funded by Bristol City Council, the local NHS and the Police.

The audience can move from room to room encountering actors telling stories, adapted by writer Aisha Zia, that are based on interviews with real people, both men and women, who have experienced domestic abuse in the home.

A lot of the action takes place simultaneously in rooms upstairs and downstairs, and occasionally outside.  The audience hears the stories from actors playing vitims of abuse and one ten year old actor playing a child who is a hepless witness.  Volunteers have built startling sets in each room which convey the chaos trapped feeling of the victims of abuse.

"Our Glass House" devised by the theatre collective Common Wealth was first performed in April in St George and received very positive reviews.  The Lawrence Weston house, loaned by Bristol City Council, was built from precast reinforced concrete (PRC) and is empty and due to be redeveloped with others in the area.  Volunteers have built sets in each room which depict the trapped feeling of a victim of abuse.

“The company has had personal experience of domestic violence, the issue is very close to our hearts. The site-specific nature of the show will connect with the audience in a way which performing in a traditional setting may not. We feel that staging the play in a house provides powerful emotional and imaginative access to this subject. Allowing the audience to choose their direction, have intimate experiences and also feel the atmosphere of the house as a whole,” said Rhiannon White.

“When we saw the play in April we thought it was intense, real, sometimes scary and traumatic, insightful and brilliantly acted,” said Cheryl Coles, Community Safety Officer for Safer Bristol.  “We wanted it to be repeated locally as it is such a powerful illustration of what can happen behind closed doors.”

Inspector Mark Runacres, who chairs the local Neighbourhood Delivery Team for the North and North West areas said, “One of the implications of this play is how vital it is, if neighbours suspect people are being abused, that they do not ignore it as a private matter but report their suspicions.”

The play is from Monday 15 October to Friday 19 October.
Shows on Monday and Tuesdays: at 4pm and 7pm
Wednesday and Thursday: 1pm and 6pm
Friday:  1am and 2pm.
The audience meet at the corner of Knovill Close and Lawrence Weston Road, BS11 OSA

Tickets for Monday evening and Wednesday evening are still available