Open Clasp are using our critically acclaimed play, Rattle Snake to deliver drama-based training to police officers and staff, in conjunction with local specialist domestic abuse services, on the offence of coercive controlling behaviour.
Listen about the training here on BBC Tees with Artistic Director Catrina McHugh and Cleveland PCC Barry Coppinger (from 19mins and 12s)
Written by Catrina McHugh MBE, Rattle Snake is based on the real life stories of women who have faced and survived coercive control in domestic abuse. Based on research identifying gaps in police understanding of coercive control by Professor Nicole Westmarland and Kate Butterworth (Durham University) and the impact of arts based research interventions by Professor Maggie O’Neill (University College Cork), Rattle Snake was created by Open Clasp and funded by Durham PCC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to train frontline officers in better responding to sexual and domestic violence – coinciding with the change of law making coercive control in relationships a crime in 2015.
