Open Clasp’s Rattle Snake, a play about coercive control, is to stream with BSL signing as part of Deaf Awareness Week.
Rattle Snake is based on real-life stories of women who have faced and survived coercive controlling domestic abuse and has been used to train 1,500+ front line police officers. It will now be streamed with BSL on 5 and 6 May 2020 on YouTube.
According to research from Women’s Aid / Melissa Mostyn in 2015, deaf women are twice as likely to suffer domestic abuse than their hearing peers. Since the lockdown was introduced, there has been a marked increase in domestic violence, with a rise in the number of calls to the National Domestic Abuse helpline run by Refuge of 49% after the first three weeks. By making Rattle Snake available to watch online with BSL, Open Clasp hopes to help more deaf people to recognise the signs of coercive control.
The play is free to access online, but as part of #GivingTuesdayNow—a new global day of giving in response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19—Open Clasp is welcoming donations which will go towards the work it does to make theatre more accessible. For more information, to find out how to get help, or to watch Rattle Snake online, visit the company’s web site.
Details of how to donate are also given after the YouTube showing.