| “I listened to the man who
barricaded himself into the spare room every night.
I heard from the man who ran out of his house
with the kids. I saw photographs of a man who
was stabbed by his girlfriend. I was told about
the man who was beaten by his wife with a hoover.
Men telling my story. The story of sleepless nights,
endless fights, put downs, shut-ups, lock-ins
and lock-outs. For two hours I listened and I
talked.” — Anonymous man after a battered
men support group meeting in Ireland
Based on the true stories of men who have been
victims of domestic violence in same-sex and heterosexual
relationships, Patrick Jones’ new play distils
40 stories into the lives of Dionne (Stacey Daley)
and Steve (Nathan Sussex) — who play out
the tragic poetry of an ordinary life felt and
experienced at the level of grand opera. Steve’s
journey from being an enthusiastic lover and father
into a shell of a man, psychologically tormented,
tortured and physically abused by Dionne, adeptly
exposes the myth of male invulnerability.
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