Paula Lindo What would 463 murdered bodies look like all in one place? Drama Making a Difference (Dmad) Theatre Co sought to portray an answer to this question on January 13.
Freetown Collective, I am Christian Theatre (Iact), Two Cents Movement, Arts-in-Action and other theatre groups, along with private individuals and activists, congregated with Dmad Theatre Co in Woodford Square in Port-of-Spain, to take part in the theatrical protest event. Each participant received the name of a murder victim to wear and most people made placards.
Dmad, Iact, Two Cents Movement and Freetown Collective performed pieces exhorting people to come together and fight against crime. The 200 or so participants were asked to lie on the ground for ten minutes and reflect on what they could do as individuals to reach out to their communities and begin to assist in the fight against crime.
Participants then marched around Woodford Square with their placards, chanting, “We will stop this bloodshed!”
Red pigment symbolic of blood was poured into the gutters.
Dmad marketing manager Kyle Cox said the original idea to visually represent the number of murders in 2016 came from an audience member at one of their shows early last year.
“Our presentation focused on scenarios which resulted in murder, like someone settling a sports dispute with a gun, or a man raping and murdering a woman, or murder for hire. As each scenario took place, we put the bodies into a pile to show what it looked like to have bodies piling up.”
He said the aim of the event was to shock people who were becoming desensitised because there were so many murders taking place.
“We wanted to remind people that each of these persons had a story and weren’t just statistics. People only react when it hits home, but our message was that every murder should bother you.”
He said relatives and friends of murder victims were invited to attend. Another purpose of the event was to foster a sense of community, to show people they’re not grieving alone.
“We wanted to show we’re all in this together, we’re a village and this problem affects us all. We also wanted to say that crime cannot be stopped solely by the police, but is each person’s responsibility.”
During the event, the news arrived of the discovery of the body of 17-year-old Rachael Ramkissoon. It left many participants visibly distraught. Cox said, “I, along with others present, felt hopeless, numb and discouraged, but then if we are hopeless, we lose before we start, so we have to have hope.”
Cox said Dmad plans to continue to partner with other arts organisations and anyone else who is interested to continue the movement, which was branded on social media as #TogetherWe.
The protesters attempted to reach out to people passing through the square on the way from work to stop to see what the protest was about. Many replied they were too busy to stop.
Cox is still optimistic despite this discouraging sign. “It’s about building community through the arts. Hopefully eventually people will not be able to ignore us.”