Til Death Do Us Part

TVO projects develop organically over time. Often one project leads naturally into another.

This was the case with a play looking at domestic abuse. Jennifer developed it through TVO’s interactive theatre project ‘What Happened Next?’ Every month a 10’ extract would be shown to an audience who would decide what they wanted to happen next using Theatre of the Oppressed techniques. The writer could choose whether or not to accept their ideas. The result was an hour long play ‘Til Death Do Us Part?’

Based on real life experiences of domestic abuse, the play’s social purpose is to explore conflict in relationships.

‘Our aim was to present both sides so that we could understand the many levels on which a relationship works. Unless it’s a real representation and from both partners, participants can’t recognise the triggers, understand the behaviour or invest in trying different strategies’

TVO Director, Jennifer Hartley

The two characters Paul and Kerry are made up of elements taken from the lives of survivors and perpetrators. They directly address the audience each telling their side of the story.

Til Death began in 2012 in theatres, to a general audience with an interest in our work.

From there it went into prisons, women’s refuges, secure children’s homes, universities and colleges. It has played at conferences and it’s used regularly for domestic abuse training.

Audience comments ranged from personal reflection on relationships, to observations on how the actors made them feel by directly addressing them