You Heard Me at Battersea Arts Centre

After the success of the show’s 2021-22 tour, writer, theatre-maker, and artist Luca Rutherford (Learning How to Die, ARC Stockton; Hold On Let Go; Summerhall) will bring her impassioned performance piece You Heard Me to Battersea Arts Centre, before embarking on an autumn tour. Exploring the complex and messy ways in which we connect to our internal power, Luca’s story of resilience and self-discovery empowers audiences to honour themselves by taking up space and finding their own voice.

Are you listening? You Heard Me is a true story that celebrates a single moment of noise that allowed creator and performer Luca Rutherford to escape an attack. This moment made her understand what it means to occupy space, to heal and be part of something much bigger than herself. A theatrical experience about refusing to be silenced and the power to re-make, re-mould and disrupt, You Heard Me follows one woman’s journey to reclaiming the space she occupies.

Luca comments, You Heard Me is rooted in my own personal story of sexual violence, specifically of escaping rape, and at the same time it is rooted in the messiness of connecting to your power, which is something I think we can all relate to. The show revolves around the confusing and non-linear journey to honouring ourselves enough to truly take up space, even in the quietest of ways. The team and I haven't hidden from the darkness of this story, but that is always at play with a magnetic sense of power and the capacity for joy within this. I want to draw attention to the relationship between harnessing the power of your voice, being heard and in return listening to others. Resilience becomes greater when it, and ourselves, are held in community. The performance contains a lot of physical theatre, and has an incredible integrated lighting and sound design, giving the audience a visceral experience that hopefully leaves them feeling fired up.

You Heard Me is a poignant celebration of how we can help ourselves and each other find our voices – creating small ripples of change that become the catalyst for wider impact. Through the messy journey of finding her power, Luca presents a story we can see ourselves in, and experience the joy of connecting to our self-worth even when we feel small.

You Heard Me is for anyone who has been underestimated. Anyone who has been told to shut up. Anyone who has been afraid to walk home.

This production is co-commissioned by The Albany, Battersea Arts Centre, Cambridge Junction, Northern Stage and Theatre in the Mill.

Please note all performances will be relaxed – audiences are invited to move around if you need to, and if you need to leave the performance, you will be allowed to return when you feel ready