Consent Workshop

Today, I attended a workshop produced by Theatr Clwyd and funded by them and Flintshire County Council Youth Services. The purpose is to get Year 9s, 13-14 year olds, to understand the importance of consent surrounding relationships and sex. The format is acted scenes and group work with the actors, facilitators and youth workers.

The workshop follows a real story with all the personal details changed but the actions and consequences described are the same. The first scene introduces Rhys, who is trying to ask out Angharad; both are 15 years old. He talks to a friend about it. Their conversation is worrying; sending nudes via social media, how to talk to girls and how to get girls to have sex. They also watched some pornography. Because of Rhys’ approach, Angharad blocks him on Instagram.

When the scene was finished the facilitators asked the participants to work in groups to discuss the toxic, illegality and misogyny within the interaction. The actors, facilitators and Youth Workers join the groups to work through their ideas together; it is important for the Youth Workers to be there on hand to talk to the students about issues that arise.

The results of the discussions are talked through as a bigger group with all the students. The issues of the conversation included watching pornography underage, sexual assault, peer pressure, lack of respect for boundaries, underage drinking and unsolicited images. 

The next scene shows how Rhys tries to put his friend's advice into action. His weird actions are ignored by Angharad and eventually he apologises for them and blames taking advice from a friend. He also apologised for the unsolicited image she received. The conversation turns to a party that weekend and whether she will go with him as a date. She agrees. 

Following this, the groups work together to discuss what makes good relationships and bad relationships. The purpose in this is to make sure they can identify the red flags in relationships when they first appear. 

The next acted scene shows Angharad getting ready for the party and the conversation with her dad setting out the rules for the evening. They negotiate, if she has to drink, how many drinks she is allowed and how she will get home from the party. He initially wants to give her a lift home which she refuses but they settle on her taking a taxi. If anything is to change she is to text him.

The group are then asked to discuss alcohol and the risks of drinking it. The participants leading the conversation through their understanding; health implications, emotions, blackouts, addiction and making bad decisions were just some of the things talked about. 

The group then watch the next scene, this takes place the following morning. The scene is set by a description of Rhys being arrested on suspicion of sexual assault that morning. We were taken through the process of being arrested; how Rhys needed an appropriate adult (his mother wasn’t contactable so youth services stood in) while he was asked to strip naked on a plastic sheet so the police could collect evidence. He was photographed and had samples taken. The interview could only happen when his mum did eventually turn up at the station, 8 hours after he was initially arrested. They continued to act out the interview going through the events of the previous evening. The scene described how he had taken Angharad home when she was very drunk and then put her to bed and took advantage of her. The scene was very blunt and went into enough details for the participants to understand the wrong he had committed. The scene ends with Rhys being charged with rape and for the unsolicited images he sent to Angharad. 

The group then discussed the legal definitions of rape, sexual assault and consent. In groups, the students were asked to work as his defence team. The purpose in this is for the team leading the workshop to mythbust any misunderstandings. Things like, “she didn’t say no” however the law looks for consent etc. There was a really good conversation between Youth Services and the students about consent. It’s really important that these conversations take place and it was great to see that the students were comfortable enough to talk openly and honestly. Youth Services were able to signpost the students to various services available to them. 

The scene is set for Angharad’s side. She eventually told her Aunty what had happened the morning after. From there she was taken to a SAR centre where she was interviewed, had a medical examination, screening and referred to a counsellor. The scene shows the first conversation between her and her dad. It was very emotive.

The facilitators described the issues around consent, discussing bribery,  blackmail, threatening violence, manipulation etc. Then the sentencing was revealed, Rhys had been sentenced to 6 years in prison. The maximum for rape is 25 years. Rhys served 3 years in a young offenders and 3 years in an adult male prison. It was awful in the adult prison and this was expressed to the students. We found out that Angharad managed to go to university but struggled with PTSD.

In the last scene, we were shown what could have happened if Rhys had respected boundaries and asked for consent. The students were engaged throughout and were invested in the ending being a happy one. The students are asked to fill in a form at the end about the workshop. It is to quantify the purpose of the workshop. Did they know about consent before? Did they enjoy the workshop? Tell us 3 things you have learnt from today and any other comments. 

This work in the community, by the theatre and Youth Services, is very important, by providing children with the tools to mature and have consensual relationships built on respect and boundaries will help the community as a whole. 

https://www.theatrclwyd.com/news/consent