According to The Crime Survey for England and Wales of 2022, “approximately 16.6% of adults aged 16 years and over (7.9 million) had experienced sexual assault” since the age of 16 years. Most won't report it and some will never tell anyone. Alma Mater illustrates the difficulties of even discussing what happened with sympathetic people.
Paige (Liv Hill), a new student at a prestigious UK college, tells the more established student Nikki (Phoebe Campbell) that she woke that morning after a party to find a male student had sex with her during the night and she has no memory of the event. She insists she wouldn’t have consented to it. Nikki suggests that what took place was rape and later seeks advice from the college's first female “master”, Jo Mulligan (Justine Mitchell),who points out that unless the girl makes a complaint, nothing can be done.
Although Jo is a progressive who was at the time arguing for the college to allow a prayer room for Muslim students and had a history of fighting for women’s rights, she is now in a position where a rape on campus might cause the college problems. Her reactions to the issue are awkward and evasive.
However, things become more public when Paige permits Nikki to report her story online without her name, but later even allows that to be known. Thousands share it and many write supporting comments. Unfortunately, they are not the only consequences for Paige, who finds it difficult to make friends and finds that her teacher won’t even speak with her unless his teaching room door is left open.
Meanwhile, Jo finds herself under greater pressure to do something about the alleged rape. She is visited by Tamara Beade (Susannah Wise), the mother of the alleged rapist, who wants Jo to make the issue go away. It complicates Jo’s friendship with Michael (Nathaniel Parker), the Chair of the College Board, who thinks some form of statement of concern for the girl should be made by the college, and his wife Leila (Nathalie Armin), whom Jo wants to mediate between Nikki and herself.
Nikki points out that one in five women are sexually assaulted at university. She increasingly argues that the lack of action on the issue is a product of rape culture, and we certainly hear of things that could contribute to that. Early on, the boys are rating girls on how hot they are and picking out the pictures of which of the new women students they would like to get off with. The chosen title for the Fresher's party is “What Were You Wearing When the Police Raided the Brothel?” These are young men whose sense of privileged entitlement tends to make them feel untouchable by authority. When a group of them drunkenly damage, a painting they simply say they will pay for it.
This well-performed, fast-moving, sharp, witty play illustrates the complicated difficulties of doing anything about the terrible way many women in the UK are sexually objectified and assaulted in the context of a rape culture that makes that possible.
In the wake of the #MeToo Movement, I came out of a mild play about women’s rights arguing with a woman critic who claimed the movement had gone too far and was causing problems. As we sat in the bar talking, she suddenly became silent and serious.
When I asked what was wrong, she told me her male friend who worked in the City had been raping in turn a group of her female friends, but none of them wanted to report him. I later contacted Rape Crisis Centre for advice and was told that unless the victims wished to report what had happened then nothing could be done.
Alma Mater, directed by Polly Findlay, is one of the finest plays I’ve seen this year. I wish everyone could see it and debate it afterwards. The final moments of the play are extraordinarily moving. Nikki is right. Something must be done.