nordiclarpyearbook2015

Making Silence/Breaking Silence:
A larp about misogynistic domestic violence
- By Tayler Stokes
The scenario
The objective of Making Silence/Breaking
Silence is to raise awareness of and initiate
a discussion about problematic narratives
that encourage a culture of tolerance for
domestic abuse. The scenario intends to
demonstrate the risks and challenges a victim
of domestic violence faces while considering
leaving their abuser. During play,
players tell a story about a long-term committed
intimate relationship as the intensity
of abuse mounts. One player portrays the
abuser (Husband), and another portrays the
victim of abuse (Wife). The remaining players
act as the various people (Bystanders)
the husband and wife interact with during
their daily lives. What follows is a series of
scenes over the course of a couple’s marriage
in which abuse by the Husband escalates
and shifts in various forms and the Bystanders
grow increasingly complicit in that
abuse as the Wife attempts to find support
and refuge from a terrifying, near lifelong
ordeal that may end in her death.
There are valid concerns to be raised about
taking the lived experiences of others as a
subject for play, especially subjects as serious
as domestic violence. Play in Making
Silence/Breaking Silence is not intended to
be entertaining. In this case play is an inquiry
meant to result in enrichment and reflection.
The author’s hope is that players will
become more aware of how they knowingly
or unknowingly behave in a way that reinforces
tolerance of domestic violence and
develop empathy for victims who are deeply
ensnared in abuse situations.
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Mechanics
A notable aspect of Making Silence/Breaking
Silence is the way in which violence and
abuse are represented and made visible to
participants. Depictions of emotional, psychological,
physical and sexual abuse each
have a way of being acted out with the
use of sound, gestures and more nuanced
metatechniques, while each instance of
abuse is physically marked in some way on
the body of the Wife player, thus serving
as a constant reminder of the escalation of
violence that is being ignored and allowed
to go on as the scenario plays out. For example,
if the Husband sexually assaults the
Wife, it is portrayed by the Husband player
wrapping duct tape around the Wife player’s
waist while the Bystander players turn their
backs and look away. All of this takes place
in complete silence except for the loud ripping
noise of the tape, which none of the
players can ignore. The tactics representing
misogynistic domestic violence during play
are both subtle and moving and this scenario
explores ways of getting players out
of their comfort zones in what they are
subjected to, what behaviors they choose
to explore or witness during play and how
much they are willing to lean into a serious
and possibly difficult experience. Making
Silence/Breaking Silence also seems to
highlight new ways in which players need to
provide support to each other during play
and how we do this through gesture and
awareness, while engaging with the subject
matter to the best of our ability. The text
encourages a great deal of care and awareness
from the facilitator, and does everything
to ensure a play group doesn’t pick up
the scenario at random but is instead fully
informed about the nature of the scenario.
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