Unheard voices

While out for a run, she was attacked by a man who tried to drag her into a derelict building, she screamed and managed to escape. “I wanted to use my experience to look at those instances of a woman facing male violence and to speak out about it,” she says. “I also wanted to highlight the relationship between harnessing your own voice, being heard and in return listening to others. The show is about community, how we are heard and the power of listening. What felt so significant about what happened to me is that the right choice for me at that moment was to scream, someone heard me and decided to do something about it.”

Rutherford has been working on making the show for three years; it has been a collaborative process which itself speaks to the project’s recognition of the importance of community.

“I have felt heard and supported by the rest of the team, so it has been healing,” she says. “What I didn’t want to do was to put trauma on the stage and traumatise the audience, so a lot of care and thought has gone into it. We do use humour and a sense of play, without undermining the seriousness of the theme.”

Addressing the culture of violence against women and the ongoing debate around the issue of women’s safety, the play is, sadly, one for our times. “At every point during the making of this it has become more and more relevant,” says Rutherford. “That’s why it feels so important to have made it; I knew if I didn’t then I would be complicit in the silencing of stories like this.” In addition to the show, Rutherford’s ambitious project also features a large-scale public photography installation featuring portraits of inspirational local women. “I came up with the idea of the photographs because I think with portraits in public spaces you can make a lot of noise in a very quiet way. I wanted to create a platform for as many women’s voices to be heard as possible. It is about celebrating those women, I wanted it to be something joyful and positive.”

The portraits of ten women were taken by Bradford-based photographer Nudrat Afza. “The quality of her images is amazing and they are so powerful,” says Rutherford. “It has been a really wonderful collaboration.” The photographs are being blown up to the monumental scale of 5m by 3m and will be installed on buildings around Bradford University campus next month.

The plan is to then relocate them to prominent sites within the city centre. “I often find that we listen to the people who shout the loudest,” says Rutherford. “But I want this project to make space for anyone who feels quiet as well as loud.”

Ultimately Rutherford feels there is cause for cautious optimism in that communication, community effort and a real commitment to making change can build resilience. “There are different ways of being resilient – sometimes the power is in the anger, sometimes in the silence and sometimes in breaking the silence. We have to keep talking about this.”

You Heard Me, Hull Truck on March 3 and Theatre in the Mill, Bradford on March 4&5. You Heard Us portraits will be on display at Bradford University campus from March 26.