Trade

Arc, Stockton

ZEN Gun Theatre presented a powerful and disturbing piece at Arc inspired by travels in India by the writer, Allison Davies, and her visit to the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool.

At the museum she was struck by a picture of a young girl with haunting eyes and wanted to tell her story.

Compelling, emotive and lyrical, the play follows the parallel lives of Alice, a girl in the UK trapped in depression by her own thoughts and history, and Ashamma, a Joginis or Devadasi, which means a servant of god, trapped into sex slavery in her own country by her own people.

Rabella Arnott, as Alice, and Nadia Nadry, as Ashamma, gave strong performances with sensitive and clever direction from Andy Berriman.

The sound of the sea greeted the audience setting the scene for the oceans that separate the cultures. The set was minimalist, but a large screen helped create changes of atmosphere and explain the meaning of some of the words.

After being diagnosed with depression and sent away with a bag of pills, Alice finds herself by the sea and voicing vivid descriptions of a wrecked slave ship. She sees Antony Gormley’s statues as dead and dying slaves and feels their anguish.

Ashamma occupies Alice’s head and wants her story told. She has been a concubine and given to men of the village as their property. She speaks of drugs and torture, sexual and physical abuse.

Scenes with Alice's emotionally abusive mother are filled with pathos and humour and form a kind of release from the horror of the story.

During a question and answer session afterwards, a member of the Dalit Freedom Network UK charity spoke about its work in helping to free children from poverty, slavery, trafficking and abuse; more information from info@dfn.org.uk.

Jan Hunter