Double Garage Presents THE TRAUMA PROJECT By Elizabeth Walley

The Trauma Project is an immersive composition for theatre crafted by Elizabeth Walley in response to her eyewitness experience of a domestic-violence homicide on her street.

"In the aftermath of 'the shooting' there were lots of words - the witness statement, court testimony, oral story - but none of these words spoke of the debilitating impact of this trauma for me," says Walley. "As a theatre practitioner, I needed to write creatively about the experience to make sense of it all. Beyond exploring my personal experience of trauma, theatre offers a platform to interrogate patriarchal violence and to add my voice to the collective outcry from women globally."

As Walley began to write, past memories filled the page. "I was overwhelmed by memories of past assaults by men that I had failed to report or even articulate to others. The Trauma Project is an embodiment of my experience of trauma and a collective re-presentation of the assaults upon my body and myself, over my life to date. In the era of #metoo, it is an activist revolt against a patriarchal system of violence against women and femicide."

Featuring four performers - Walley, Ian Ferrington, Isabella Gilbert and Lauren Steiner, with production design by Dagmara Gieysztor, choreography by Isabella Gilbert and sound design by Samuel Kreusler and Rachel Lewindon, The Trauma Project takes audiences into the chaotic unsettlement that an experience of trauma invokes. "My hope for audiences is that they engage empathetically with the story and that it resonates beyond the performance as a provocation for political action and cultural change," says Walley.

Having postponed the production twice, the extraordinary challenges of the past year have strongly affirmed the power of shared physical space for Walley. "The months of social distancing, without physical connection, strengthened my commitment to the unique dialogical exchange between actors and audience in live theatre, and the power of this visceral relationship to facilitate social change."

Creative development of The Trauma Project was supported by La MaMa Explorations in 2017.

DOUBLE GARAGE PRESENTS
THE TRAUMA PROJECT
17 - 28 MARCH 2021
www.fortyfivedownstairs.com