Play about women's safety to tour North Yorkshire schools

It was made in response to the murder of Sarah Everard

Author: Kathy GreenPublished 13th Sep 2023

A play put together in response to the murder of York woman Sarah Everard is going to be performed in schools across the County.

"She was walking home" is based on testimonies of people living in the City who've been harassed and attacked.

Kate Vesey is the director and says they wanted to challenge the idea that women are in any way to blame for being harassed: "Yes you get angry but actually it's something that a lot of us have experienced, it does make me fuming because it's not fair and it makes you feel unsafe and embarrassed and why should we be feeling like that."

It was originally put together as an audio walk in the City following the death of York woman Sarah Everard.

"As a company we felt about the way it was being reported so there was a lot of conversations about what she was wearing and the fact that she was on the phone and she was doing everything right, but actually the focus wasn't about the fact that she was murdered and the person that killed her."

"We felt that we wanted to create a piece that would make people have those conversations about people's safety not just in just walking home or walking to certain places but actually are responsibility as a community to look after people."

"It's a piece that is encouraging people to talk about security and how they feel but also to be a good friend to make sure that your friends are safe and are getting home safely as well and also to start those conversations about what can we do as a society, is there better lighting is there safety points."

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