Content Warning: Sexual assault. If you or someone you know requires support, a list of helplines can be found on Zero Tolerance’s Website.
Alexandra Donnachie’s one woman play, When We Died is set to tour the UK this spring, starting in Cambridge on 22 March and ending in Corby on 6 April.
When We Died follows a woman working as an embalmer who is faced with the body of the man who raped her almost a year earlier. The play follows her decision to confront her trauma and tell her story on her own terms.
The play was first shown at VAULT Festival in 2020 in a successful run which was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When We Died is written and performed by Alexandra Donnachie, with direction by Andy Routledge and the movement and intimacy co-ordinators are Christina Fulcher and Sarah Shear. It is produced by Courtenay Johnson for Carbon Theatre, a community focused arts organisation based in North Northhamptonshire which focuses on creating inclusive, female centred work.
Writer and performer Alexandra Donnachie said of the announcement: “I’m incredibly proud of the play and thrilled to be taking When We Died out on the road and to be performing it again, but I feel incredibly conflicted between being thrilled it is still relevant for the sake of getting to perform it again, but also mortified that the story hasn’t become dated.
“Violence against women isn’t stopping, or apparently even showing signs of slowing down, and if our play can help raise awareness of this, and have a part in educating those among us—especially men—about the importance of calling out what can often start as ‘jokes’ and ‘banter’, but can soon turn sinister, then I’ll gladly keep performing it until it’s considered unnecessary.”
Tour dates and venues can be found on Alexandra Donnachie’s website.
Words by Jo Elliott
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