COMMUNITY THEATRE TO LATVIA
A
group of actors from the Malta Drama Centre will be leaving for Latvia in the
coming days to present in dramatic form researched material on the issue of
abused women in Latvia. The Maltese
actors will perform in Akniste, a small town in Latvia bordering
Lithuania. Gunita’s Story, a
reality spectacle which has been devised following a week of intensive research
involving L
The
project is part of a Grundtvig Lifelong Learning programme which, besides Malta
and Latvia, engages also actors from Austria, Greece and Finland. The aim of
the extended programme is to research and dramatise social situations in the
respective European partner-countries.
Each country will link with another in interpreting “situations of
concern” in a host town or village, and present a theatrical enterprise to an
audience which will be urged to interact effectively.
“Our
partners in Malta have created a script which gives a very convincing view on
the issue of domestic violence in Latvia”, said Ms Skaidrite Medvecka, who is
coordinating her actors on behalf of the local government in Akniste. “The
Maltese scenes are quite dramatic, and all I can say is that in Latvia, even
more dramatic situations happen all the time”, explained Ms Medvecka.
“Violence
in a matrimonial context is generally a family’s own problem, and it’s the
family who decides whether to fight it or not”, adds the Latvian coordinator,
regarded by many as a leading instigator for women’s rights. She explains further : “Women who are
subjected to such abuse don’t want others to know the truth, the real story;
they don’t let others interfere and they are not ready to change anything, with
children becoming double victims”.
Actually,
Gunita’s Story sees the tragedy from the standpoint of a teenager who
cannot suffer her mother to sustain abuse at the hands of the father, an
alcoholic who refuses any form of assistance.
The Maltese actors have researched such behaviour in an immediate
manner, having had several women “confess and demonstrate their ordeal” during
intensive workshops conducted last year in Latvia by Mario Azzopardi’ who is
coordinating for the Malta Drama Centre.
“The
Latvians think that we have constructed a very true depiction of the existing
problem” explained Mr Azzopardi. “We
have depicted one type of the Latvian wife, the passive, not the resisting
model, and we are almost sure that the abusive men won’t be in the audience when
the project travels to Latvia. The aim
of the project is to empower women to stand up to the abuse, in ways which they
know best”.
The
ways “to stand up to the abuse” will be debated by the Latvian audience. The Maltese script, according to the Latvian
counterparts, have landed the right words in an authentic situation. The Maltese actors have understood that the
problem is like “a rolling snowball”’ to use Ms Medvecka’s opinion, but it is
up to the audience to decide whether the community is prepared for action and change.
According
to recent statistics, issued in a Latvia Reproductive Heath Report, since 1997
the number of women in Latvia experiencing violence has tripled. Whereas one out of 19 women in 1997 admitted
physical violence, by 2003, three out of10 women claimed physical assault. Most women in Latvia suffer at the hands of
their intimate partners, and rarely report the battering to the police. There are no shelters for battered women.
The
problem is leading to a compounded situation and Latvia has become one of the
countries with the highest rates of suicide in the world, with suicide being
also the dominant cause of external death.
“Theatre
can be a poignant instrument to set the problem into high relief”’ said Mr
Azzopardi, “but the issue can only be altered if the victims decide to mount
social pressure and don’t continue to accept abuse as part of their cultural
destiny. We hope to dispel some of this
defeatism through drama and through related communal debate”.