The Survivors project grew out of a collaboration between the inclusive theatre company Chickenshed and South Gwynedd Domestic Abuse Service (GDAS) through a Theatre Production Development Fund grant from the Arts Council of Wales to support the development of a theatre piece inspired by the experiences of a group of women in contact with the South Gwynedd Domestic Abuse Service.

Dave Carey and Christine Nearing from Chickenshed’s creative team, along with two of the company’s actors, worked intensively with a group of clients and staff from GDAS, drawing out stories and themes and transforming them into a theatre production.  The workshops were intense and inspirational, and the emerging piece titled in the absence of silence was staged at the Chickenshed Theatre in North London in May 2016.