Discussions about domestic or gender
\nviolence by and large focus on physical or body traces the partner’s blows left
\non the other’s body. However, each time, such blows come with their
\npsychological aftermath as well. The psychological violence the abused women
\nare subject to, on a daily basis, is less talked about. We should not forget
\ndomestic violence is dealt with in the legislative system and is the main cause
\nof the stumbling block the victims needs to overcome if they want to drag
\nthemselves out of that toxic relation. Psychological violence is the main topic
\nof Restart, a play written by Ozana Nicolau who also stage-directed it at the
\nReplika Educational Center in Bucharest. Inspired from the stories of victims
\nwho succeeded to free themselves of the abusive relations, Restart is a stage
\nperformance that benefitted from the collaboration with such NGOs as I Choose,
\nbased in Sibiu and Anais, based in Bucharest. Furthermore, playwright Ozana Nicolau recalled
\nepisodes fin her childhood when she heard about women she knew being beaten by
\ntheir husbands or concubines. Ozana was wondering why no adult had any reaction
\nto help those women or condemn the situation. At the moment, the Romanian legislation
\nstipulates, among other things, a temporary restraining order issued against the
\nattacker, police intervention in the wake of a simple emergency call. As we
\nspeak, the victims benefit from much more help from the authorities and the NGOS,
\nyet the emotional abuse still keeps the victim prisoner of the noxious relation
\nfor a long time. Restart is a play about how to overcome that kind of violence. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stage director Ozana Nicolau, dwelling on that herself:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Physical violence is the one that is visible, it is blatant, it is punished
\nby the law. Yet it is possible, as there is that kind of emotional violence
\nthat cannot be seen and which is not punished by the law. That is very hard to
\nprove. And that’s where our idea started from: let us see what happens in the
\nmind of a woman who, even though she has a lot to suffer from, she still feels
\nguilty. She is often manipulated so she can feel guilty or powerless, so she
\ncan feel she cannot quit, she has no solutions. And I found it important to
\nrender the fact that sometimes our mind can play tricks on us and that sometimes
\nit can be our hindrance. Of course, when we regain our strength, it is also the
\nmind that helps us snap out of it, and rebuild everything from scratch. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There are only two characters in the play, featuring
\nactresses Mihaela R\u0103descu and Nicoleta Lefter. The latter will be telling us
\nwhat prompted her to play the role of the victim, initially, and then the role
\nof a woman who eventually overcame gender violence.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First
\nof all, it was Ozana’s offer, I wanted so much to work with her and with
\nactress Mihaela R\u0103descu. And the topic also attracted me,
\nsince it was a topic that needed to have a voice. And it is true that in state theaters
\nthere are not that many stage performances with such a discourse. Then the
\nstories were deeply touching for me and, indeed, having read them, I also got
\nto meet some of those women, since they came to the show. And yes, I find that
\nvery important. It seems to me it is a step that needs to be taken and
\nsupported. And you also take a great responsibility, knowing the stories are true,
\nthose women do exist and they came to see the show. You realize your gestures matter
\na lot, as we speak. When you’re on stage telling their story, you feel the
\nenergy coming from the audience.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is true the show has
\nthe gift of generating the spectators’ empathy for the victim’s trials and
\ntribulations. And actress Nicoleta Lefter was in turn moved by some of the episodes
\nrendered on stage and experienced by some of the abused women. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I
\nwas impressed by the testimonies. One is that of the woman who says that after
\nthe separation or the divorce occurred, for a good many years her husband harassed
\nher with lawsuits he filed against her, against the friends who helped her,
\nagainst parents and policemen. Which means everything doesn’t end in separation
\nalone. That, for me, is an ordeal. And the worst thing was that it was not only
\nthe woman who had the trauma. When there are also children involved, I find
\nthat a lot more serious, as they don’t know how to get over that. You, as an
\nadult, can somehow succeed to overcome the moment, but for a child, that can be
\npretty bad because it can leave scars for the rest of their lives. And,
\nperhaps, if things are not discussed and solved correctly, children themselves
\ncan end up being aggressors or even victims. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Restart is not Ozana Nicolau’s
\ndebut stage performance inspired from social realities. A few years ago she stage-directed Foreplay, a play also written by Ozana, about adolescent mothers, and also presented by Replika Educational Center. This kind of theater,
\nsocially anchored, comes as a modality to draw attention to some problems occurring
\nquite often in the day-to-day life. Does something like that at have any impact? <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ozana Nicolau once again:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I think the impact does
\nexist. In earnest, of course it is much less strong than we would have wanted
\nit to be, as a theater hall has several dozen or even several hundred seats, if the hall is bigger. Yet the message is conveyed since people carry on and
\nspeak with colleagues at work, with friends, with their families. To give you
\nan example, the other day I received very positive feedback from a woman spectator
\nwho came with her 14-year-old son who initially didn’t want to go to the theater.
\nHe still had the impression theater meant just theater for children or puppet theater.
\nAnd then he came over, saw the Restart stage performance and said If that’s what
\ntheater means, I want more of it . And I found that extraordinary, the fact that
\nhe came and he liked it, even though it is a pretty difficult topic for his
\nage. I think people want to see topics that are fleshed out from their
\nday-to-day life. I don’t think they can find, in a theater show, the specific
\nsolution to their problem, but I think they may find a direction, a way of
\nlooking at things, or at least an encouragement, the hope things can also be done
\ndifferently and that they need to know they’re not alone. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Another message that
\ncame from a pre-teen, who was also a spectator for Restart, was to thank his
\nmother for bringing him over to a theatre show where he saw something he didn’t
\nwant to become: and abusive husband and an abusive father.(EN)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Domestic violence and its expression on stage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":144421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[43742,42072,43924,43925,29767],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-144420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-domestic","tag-play","tag-restrain","tag-spectator","tag-violence"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n