SMALL ACTS OF RESISTANCE: SITES OF ACTIVISM - THIRD PHASE

SMALL ACTS OF RESISTANCE: SITES OF ACTIVISM - THIRD PHASE

The third phase of my Practice as Research project Small Acts of Resistance was recently delivered in the borough. Working with five extraordinary women from across Islington, we explored lived experiences of social justice through the places where those moments happened. These “sites of activism” became spaces for co created research, storytelling, and symbolic acts of resistance carried out collectively in the borough.

We ended with a private sharing for funders, stakeholders and supporters, and the response was powerful:

Testimonials

Participants' stories revealed experiences of multiple and intersecting disadvantages, highlighting discrimination, vulnerability and marginalisation within systems and sites of care and support intended to help, including family networks, relationships, welfare services and the workplace. These narratives resonated deeply, evoking empathy and understanding among the audience. Individual accounts of navigating bureaucracy, medical inequalities, housing insecurity, and advocating for the adaptations and flexibility required to meet diverse needs foregrounded the everyday challenges many women face in their pursuit of safe and dignified lives.

Beyond the spoken word, the ensemble vividly communicated their inner worlds and rich emotional landscapes through gesture, tone and expression, encompassing poignant moments of joy, despair, tragedy and triumph. It became clear that through the devising and workshop processes undertaken with Islington People's Theatre, participants had developed strong bonds of trust, solidarity and mutual care. The confidence and sensitivity with which they shared profoundly personal and collective experiences of pain, struggle and resistance in a public setting was courageous and inspiring.

The impact of this work was evident not only in the quality of the final performance but also in the personal reflections of participants. Hearing that some women felt participating in Small Acts of Resistance had contributed more significantly to their healing than years of more conventional talking therapies was a powerful testament to the effectiveness of the applied theatre approach and bespoke methodology employed. Such feedback provides strong evidence of effective project design, highlighting the successful development of an inclusive, accessible and trauma-aware environment that nurtured survivor dignity and agency, enabling a participatory creative experience that promoted healing and wellbeing outcomes.

Small Acts of Resistance enabled deep exploration and reflection, supporting participants to process experiences, strengthen self-understanding and increase their capacity to navigate future challenges with new languages, tools and insights. Chrys Chijiutomi, Culture and Creative Economies Officer, WE Heal Project Lead at Islington Council.

Small Acts of resistance is powerful project, amplifying the voices of women’s lived experiences of injustice, whilst also building participants confidence and supporting them to see that their voice not only matters but their truth resonates with so many women, who’ve had similar experiences. There is a power in the collective and the final performances were raw and confronting. Nicola has created something very special and I’ve no doubt that in addition to producing great thought-provoking theatre, the legacy and impact of the project on the performers will stay with them for a long time. Sarah Turley – Complex Needs & Homelessness Manager – Islington Council

...powerful, inspiring, women standing up for what they believe in, speaking their truth. Funny, emotional, and thought provoking performance. Audience member

Small Acts of Resistance was a wonderful piece, and really ambitious. I felt it was really heartfelt and powerfully delivered by the actors, especially the simple choreography that accentuated the text and the message. Overall it was incredible piece, very moving, very brave of those who shared their incredibly personal stories. Helen Ainsworth, Cut Moose

What stayed with me most was the image of women physically holding the person about to step onto the feminist stool to speak. Although it might have been imagined simply for safety reasons, it felt quietly radical. So often, the women who carry difficult stories are depicted as solitary figures. They are expected to endure impossible journeys alone, which I don't think is true of women's experiences necessarily. Here, the speaker was held before she spoke. Support was made visible. It was collective rather than individual.

There was something profoundly healing in witnessing that gesture repeated within a multigenerational gathering of women. Different ages stood together, making space for one another and sharing unfiltered truths.

It was incredible for me to witness the presence of women of colour taking up space without apology. Their voices echoed through the hall, filling it with their testimonies and painful experiences. There was a sense of reclaiming; not only of the physical space, but voice itself and ways of communicating. The inclusion of the Deaf experience expanded that understanding of language, reminding us that expression and access are never singular. Nomi Lefort, New Unity, London

I found Small Acts of Resistance, part three, in May, an inspiring and deeply moving performance. Women used theatre to share their lived experiences of navigating support services and bureaucracy during times of vulnerability. The stories explored issues such as immigration, health, housing, welfare and discrimination. Although different, they revealed common experiences of navigating complex systems, encountering a lack of humanity, and the emotional effort involved in asking for help.

A particularly powerful element was each women reading her own manifesto: a list of what was needed and what could have made her experience more human. These transformed personal experiences of frustration and injustice into clear demands for change.

Having participated in Parts 1 & 2, I was interested to see how much of the project had developed. Much of what the women shared resonated with my own experiences, creating a strong sense of solidarity.

In Small Acts of Resistance, Nicola Hollinshead provided us with a space to explore our lived experience and a platform for activism. The women in the project were not simply telling their stories; they were identifying what needed to change and turning personal testimony into acts of resistance. For me, the performance showed the power of theatre to validate lived experience, create solidarity and inspire and take action towards better social justice. Pilar Sanchez, Performer, Facilitator