After the leaving, the abuse doesn't always end...

Aim

We are seeking to raise £10,000 to support women recovering from domestic abuse to tell their stories and help those in authority listen.

We are RedEarth Playback Theatre, part of the charity Playback Theatre South West

We are a long established Playback Theatre group using the creative and enabling Playback Theatre methodology, in many different contexts and in collaboration with local organisations, to support young carers, refugees and women dealing with domestic abuse. 

We are now seeking to raise £10,000 to fund a series of safe, Playback Theatre contexts where women recovering from domestic abuse can share their stories. The aim is both immediate support for women involved – as well as to resource a documentation to better inform authorities responding to domestic abuse about the wider aftermath and continued abuse frequently faced by women who leave. 

After leaving… the abuse doesn’t always end.
Stories of survival, fear and freedom.

For many women, leaving an abusive relationship is not the end of the abuse.

It is often the beginning of another frightening, exhausting and uncharted struggle.

We want to bring into the open what frequently happens after leaving abuse.

Our project is to bring clearer understanding of real experiences women face to the people who have the power to make changes that support them more effectively. 

Leaving should mean freedom

Imagine finding the courage to leave an abusive relationship, only to discover that the fear, uncertainty, vulnerability and struggle continue.

Imagine trying to rebuild your life while worrying about a home base, your children, your finances … and the next court hearing.

Women who have experienced domestic abuse face significant emotional, psychological, social and practical challenges in new, persistent forms after leaving. The abuser’s anger, resentment, financial or coercive control patterns, their desire to hurt or sabotage the ‘now free’ partner can feed an aftermath of trauma, the isolation of displacement, vulnerability, painful loss of confidence, shame and deeply challenging financial hardship. 

Where children are involved, women often face the challenge of managing the children’s well-being and security while navigating new forms of manipulation and withholding of financial support. 

When they seek formal support to anchor their rights and daily survival realities in their new situation, many women encounter systems and services that are opaque, bureaucratic and flawed that can leave them feeling unheard, disbelieved or practically powerless.

The power of our Playback Theatre approach

We are able to address these experiences drawing on our Playback Theatre highly trained practitioners with unique, creative practice methods and skills in trauma support, caring, and our developed awareness of realities women face. 

In our performances, there is no prepared script. Instead, we invite people present in the group to tell a story from their lives. Our actors listen carefully and then bring the told experience to life – ‘playing it back’ through theatre, movement, music and words. The story belongs to the person who tells it. Our role is to listen and reflect what we have heard, with care and respect.

Through this carefully managed, responsive, improvised performance, women’s stories can be witnessed, their experiences reflected back to them with empathy and dignity. We offer an opportunity to be heard without judgement and see their experience acknowledged by others. This can be particularly meaningful for women whose experiences have been hidden, minimised, denied or misunderstood. So, the process can powerfully help women challenge together the silences and isolation that so often frame domestic abuse and its aftermath. 

Women have said:

"They were the most powerful performances I’ve ever seen, the ladies told some of their deepest vulnerable stories and they were listened to and replayed through a creative performance."

"Yes, It was emotional, but it was about being heard, about being seen and that your story matters."

“When you are in a fog you cannot see, but they gave a clear view through the fog. A pathway”

Here are some of the benefits our Playback Theatre performances enable:

• Reducing isolation and building connection - a shared theatrical experience based on their stories can help women recognise they are not alone, foster empathy and a sense of solidarity.
• Supporting emotional expression and reflection - seeing a story enacted can offer new perspectives and opportunities for reflection while allowing each woman to make meaning from her own experience.
• Restoring voice agency and self-worth - the process places women’s stories at the centre, recognising them as experts of their own experiences. 
• Challenging stigma and increasing understanding - a performance can help women understand that domestic abuse is not simply a private matter or involves a straightforward decision to leave. It can illuminate barriers women face including coercive control, post separation abuse, financial insecurity, child contact arrangements, court proceedings, concerns about safety.  Making these experiences visible can challenge victim blaming attitudes and encourage more informed compassionate responses. 
• Encouraging hope and recognising resilience - Playback Theatre can reflect and share not only the pain and consequences of abuse, but also women’s courage and capacity for change. It can open up space for hope, connection and new possibilities.

We now seek £10,000 support to undertake 'After the Leaving…' – focusing on a time of great danger and vulnerability in many women’s lives.

We want to focus on a part of domestic abuse that does not always receive the attention it deserves - what happens after a woman leaves an abusive relationship.

Leaving an abusive partner does not necessarily end the fear, coercion or control

Abuse may continue through threatening or demeaning messages, financial pressure, stalking or harassment. Children may become caught up in disputes over contact, custody and safety. Child maintenance is often an obstacle-ridden jungle to navigate. Court proceedings can be lengthy or distressing. Finding a safe and affordable place to live is often extremely difficult.

Women often find themselves dealing with several different agencies that are inadequately structured to meet the realities they face. They find themselves repeating painful experiences, trying to make themselves understood while also trying to protect their children, rebuild their lives and cope with continuing insecurity and pressure.

Here is the plan that your support will enable:

Stage One: To begin - Four performances in November and December 2026 in the South West of England at Torbay, Teignbridge and South Hams.

We are planning four special RedEarth Playback Theatre performances during the international 16 Days of Action against Gender-Based Violence, from 25 November to 10 December 2026. These will be private, carefully supported events for women who have experienced domestic abuse, held in welcoming spaces where they can come together, listen, and share their stories. These first four performances will launch a much longer project.

Stage 2: A year of listening - 16 further performances

During 2027, we will deliver 16 further performances across the South West reaching more women and building deeper understanding of what happens after leaving abusive relationships. We will be working throughout with an appropriate support organisation that works on domestic abuse issues to help ensure the events are safe, accessible and sensitive to the needs of everyone taking part. And we will be ensuring the well-being of our actors and team as they engage with difficult realities women present.

Stage 3: Taking the evidence to decision-makers

Beyond listening - we want this project to achieve something more.

We want decision-makers to hear the human experiences impacted by inadequate policies, too-complex procedures and limited statistics.

Women who have experienced domestic abuse know, better than anyone, where the systems intended to support them work well – and where they fall short.

Our project will develop effective ways to carry forward to the relevant authorities a vivid account of post-abuse fall-out on women’s lives. With women's informed permission, we will have gathered learning from their experiences and now present it anonymously to organisations that have a role in protecting and supporting survivors. These could include the police, local authorities, safeguarding services and professionals working within the justice system.

We want them to grasp more fully - What happened when women asked for help? Did they feel safe going to court? Was the reality of their concerns about their children really understood? What did they face trying to find the accommodation and practical support needed? What made life harder? What helped them move forward? What do they wish someone had done differently? How could ‘the system’ provide better, more effectively targeted support.

We will take great care to protect participants' privacy and safety. No woman will be expected to contribute her personal experiences to this wider work, and any information shared externally will be subject to appropriate consent and safeguarding arrangements.

We cannot promise that a particular story will change a policy or a decision.

But we believe that people making decisions about domestic abuse should have opportunities to learn from women who have lived through these experiences.

If we want services to work better for women escaping abuse, we need them to listen to what happens after they leave.

We need your help to set the process in motion to make this happen

We are asking you to help raise £10,000  to support After the Leaving…

Your donation will help us launch the first four performances and build the programme we hope to continue throughout 2027.

The funds will specifically contribute towards:

• Our performers: Paying experienced Playback Theatre actors for their preparation and performances.
• Safe, welcoming venues: Providing suitable private spaces where women can take part comfortably and confidentially.
• Project coordination: Supporting the work of our two paid staff members in organising performances, liaising with partners and managing the programme.
• Safeguarding and support: Ensuring that the project is planned and delivered with appropriate care for all participants' wellbeing and safety.
• Sharing what we learn: Developing carefully anonymised findings that can help inform discussions with relevant public authorities.

We are developing this programme with a partner organisation and will continue to seek the resources needed to deliver the longer-term work.

What your donation could mean
Donations of £10, £25 or £50 will help us take this project forward.

A larger gift could make a substantial contribution towards the cost of a performance; venue hire or the work needed to bring the programme to more women.

Every donation, whatever its size, will help.

Whether or not you yourself can give, sharing our appeal with friends, family, colleagues or local organisations would be enormously valuable.

Please help us raise £10,000

Please support After the Leaving…
because the abuse doesn't always end when a woman leaves.

Read more about our work at: Playback Theatre South West

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 10th December 2026 at 12:00pm