At the Hands of Women is a bold, innovative show which questions the foundations of theatre itself. Set backstage at a production of The Bacchae, it follows the 5 female chorus members as they become increasingly disenfranchised with their male director. They begin to realise the limitations of their position as actor, how they exist as merely the battleground for directors to access greater success. The show is formally playful and creatively expansive, questioning the autonomy of actors and trying to formulate a new radical take on the nature of female rage.

We have a completed script, which is clearly structured and has a strong sense of narrative, but which we want to deconstruct with our actors. We want the piece to take inspiration from the script but be free to shift and move in new directions, to be guided by the experiences of the women involved. As a lot of the play is focused around the problematic actions of male directors, we want to create an environment where people feel comfortable sharing their own experiences, adding to the sense of this as a play formed by its actors, not for its director.