"Rape is not an exception, but a reality around us. People just don't want to admit it," says the director of the play Symbiosis?, which opens the topic of sexual violence

In the darkness of the hall, the quiet voices of the actors repeat the disturbing words, "One in five will experience rape". "On average, 34 rapes happen here every day, and only one or two of them are reported to the police."

Symbiosis? is a psychological drama that explores how a person experiences a painful situation, copes with the trauma and finds himself again.

The main character Petra's world stops after experiencing sexual violence from a close friend, she feels lonely and cut off. She doesn't know how to exist in her new reality or how to accept it, she withdraws into herself and tries to live as if nothing had happened. But those around her see her as a traitor and a seductress instead of a victim. In the course of the hour-long performance, Petra goes through five stages of grief, loses her friends and takes the first steps towards opening up her story.

For Tina Davídková, Symbiosis? her debut play. The young screenwriter and director graduated from the Literary Academy and has been writing since childhood. The theatre is for her a space where she can talk about topics that otherwise remain in the shadows in society. That is why she founded the theatre company Nemyslim kolektiv, which opens up neglected topics in a subtle and sensitive way.

Your production discusses a difficult topic that is not talked about much in Czech society. Why did you choose such a sensitive and controversial topic as sexual abuse for your debut? And were you not afraid to go into it?

There were several reasons. I wanted the viewer to be unaware for as long as possible that the story was taking place in two temporal planes. And that most of the action actually takes place in the main character's head.

The intertwining of the present and the past surprised me a lot, because I had no idea that something like this was waiting for me.

That's good. I wanted to blur the lines between reality and memories as much as possible, because that's often the case with victims and people who are going through some kind of post-trauma or trauma, so they're constantly thinking about it and going back to it.

You've already alluded to Petra's emotional and psychological state being the center of the story. Did you consult with psychologists or people who had gone through a similar experience with the script?

Yes, both with people who have been through a similar situation and with psychologists. I wanted to make certain passages of the script as authentic as possible. I wasn't primarily concerned with working with emotions, but rather with being raw and realistic.

In the production you are not only the writer but also the director. How difficult was it for you to direct the actors in very emotional scenes?

In the end, it wasn't hard at all. Everyone who went into it with me approached the text very responsibly and sensitively. I was apprehensive about it, mainly because it was my first original work and it was a difficult subject. But in the end, everyone worked out great. We had a lot of discussion about each scene and the whole process was very collective. I brought my idea of what it could look like and the others developed it further. They helped me a lot in that.

That's very nice. Did it take you a long time to find the actors?

I don't think it took long, but it was an interesting process. I already had an idea of who I wanted to work with when I was writing. And the ones that I approached, they went for it almost immediately. Then the cast had to be filled out, including alternates, to make eight of us. It came about very naturally - through recommendations and connections between people who already knew each other from previous collaborations. So gradually the whole group was formed.

Sources: archiv Tiny Davidové/ Se svolením

Audio recordings are also part of the story. Viewers hear news, court records and statistical data about sexual violence in the Czech Republic. Together, it creates quite an eerie feeling. What led you to include them and how important was it for you to have this information in the production?

That was crucial for me. I wanted to build the whole show around that and make it the first thing the audience hears. I believe that specific numbers can resonate strongly because they can be shocking. I hoped that it would give the audience a moment of pause. The recordings of the trials then take the form of television programmes. They help to portray the individual characters - they show how they react to information and how they approach it. Each of them differently. And that's what I thought was important for the dynamics between the housemates. It's similar in everyday life - once a sensitive topic is brought up, it quickly becomes apparent how differently everyone perceives it. I wanted to reflect that in the performance as well.

Although it is never directly stated in the production what happened between Petra and Jiri, it is clear that active consent on her part was absent. Did you find that some of the audience - like the characters in the story - didn't believe her?

So far, I haven't encountered it in the sense that anyone has suggested that Petra was at fault or that her attitude was downright wrong. But at the same time, I don't think she's an unambiguously positive character. She's a wounded girl who has been through something - or is still going through something. My goal wasn't to create a "perfect victim". On the contrary, I wanted her reaction, which can seem passive, to provoke discussion. Precisely because, in my opinion, it corresponds to reality. I know from my own experience and from the experience of people around me that our ideas of how we would behave in a crisis situation often do not correspond to what we actually experience and how we react.

It just seemed to me that Petra was trying to ignore the whole thing.

Yes, this is that first moment of denial - trying to convince yourself that nothing actually happened. I think that's what happens very often. And that's why you carry it around for so much longer. That's why I wanted the play to show how important it is to talk about it as soon as possible. The sooner one opens up and starts to deal with the situation, the more time and inner weight one can save oneself.

The characters are friends and roommates, but after the event, they turn away from Petra and lazily side with the perpetrator, who is also part of the friend group. Was your intention to show a worst-case scenario, or was it more of a realistic portrayal of the situation?

It reflects reality to a certain extent. When something like this happens in a close relationship - like between friends - a lot depends on how the story is set up from the beginning. And often it's the men who take the narrative in hand and start shaping it.

In my experience, the environment tends to make light of the situation. Not necessarily by denying it completely or taking a clear side. Rather, it gradually dissolves into hyperbole, jokes, or downplaying, as if nothing major actually happened - even though it did.

This strikes me as very close to reality. But on stage it's naturally heated. The characters are stylized to a degree, even caricatured at times, to make this mechanism more readable.

Since March, you've also been performing the production for primary and secondary school students. How did this initiative come about and what is its main goal?

That was actually the very original intention. I wrote Symbiosis? as part of my undergraduate thesis at the Literary Academy, and I had a lot of feedback from my professors that it would be great to use it to educate kids. Later I started working with Prague 4, where my school is located. Overall, anyone can come. If any school is interested, we would be only too happy. For example, I was approached by my former high school, and a lot of other people, teachers, actually told us that they would like to bring their students. The main reason why I wanted to do this is so that there would be a possibility of expanding the topic in some way. And I think the sooner the better. That's why primary schools.

So if I understand correctly, you've already had some performances for schools. What kind of response have you received?

I've been really surprised by the response. I was a bit worried about it because I didn't know how young people would react. But in the end it turned out great. They were very active in the discussions after the show and you could see they were paying attention. What surprised me was that the boys were the most involved in the discussion with the actors. While most of the girls seemed rather puzzled and worked the topic out within themselves, the boys had an open and sensitive discussion. And these were first and second year high school students. They talked about how they would like to see more talk about similar topics and to educate the younger generation more about them. I left feeling really good about that.

At the end of the production, Petra decides to go to therapy and open up about her experiences, but the story doesn't address the legal or police side of things any further. Why did you choose to conclude her journey on a psychological level, and not also show the next step towards accountability or justice?

This is probably where my personal experience played the biggest role. But I don't actually have any experience of anyone in my area dealing with it legally, and I think that often times rape is presented in such a way that we have to deal with it on the legal level, that we have to report it, but what usually happens is that the police don't believe the victims.

We can see that from the statistics.

Yes, exactly. We see that only a small percentage of cases reach the police. That's why it made sense to me to focus on the majority that remains hidden. The situations that people deal with within themselves, or just within their neighbourhood.

I consider the psychological level to be crucial. If the production also has an educational overlap, it is in this direction. If we start to change the overall narrative and talk about these experiences more openly, it can have a real impact.

It can help to better share and understand personal boundaries. And also lead to people crossing them less. I find it important to talk about boundaries - not just to have them, but to name them. That is how they become more legible to those around us.

My next question just follows on from what you say about changing the narrative. Do you feel that a play like Symbiosis can contribute to talking more openly about sexual abuse in the Czech Republic?

Yes, I think that's where theatre - and art in general - has great power. We see it as a form of entertainment, but it also carries deeper ideas and can shape us. I've felt this in myself since I was a child. We often don't even realize it, but art is all around us and has a real impact on us. Even subtly, it can influence how we think or how we perceive the world. At the same time, it's a very natural way to bring up important topics. It creates a space for debate in a non-violent way - much like talking about a favourite film or TV show. In this way, theatre is actually the same. And that's why I believe it can really have such a role.

I hope so too. So you don't separate art from politics?

No, definitely not. Culture and politics are so terribly intertwined that you can't even separate them, because in art most people reflect on some social events, on their lives, and politics is very much about those.

And the very last question, what would you personally like the audience to take away from Symbiosis into their everyday lives?

I would definitely like everyone to take away that this is what a person going through something can look like. And that this is what trauma can look like. At the same time, I want us to be able to talk about these things without making snap judgments. Not to immediately decide who we believe and who we don't, but rather to learn to listen. That is how we can better share our boundaries. And when we know what makes someone uncomfortable, it's much easier not to cross them. We just need to talk about it and be receptive to each other. I hope that this is the main idea that will find its way to the audience.