“We're going to Grandma's!” is how the women attending Delphine Dubreuil's workshops affectionately refer to the Poitiers association. A grandmother is comforting and nurturing. Marcelle was the founder's paternal grandmother, who herself was a victim of domestic violence, and to whom she wanted to pay tribute.
Here, the goal is not to perform theater by playing characters, but to open up and explore oneself. “To distance oneself, to observe, to be a spectator of what one does, of who one is, and then to seek within one's heart, not to fabricate,” explains Delphine Dubreuil.
The workshops are primarily aimed at women, all women, whether they have experienced coercive relationships or not. For those who have, the focus is on questioning that trauma. What do I do with it? How do I move forward? How do I refocus on myself rather than on the one who inflicted physical and psychological violence?
To achieve this, the actress asks the women to write texts. “I am what I want, what I no longer want, what beautiful things have I chosen for my future life? Not to fabricate, not to seek to be anything other than who we are, that is their value,” explains the founder of Mémé Marcelle.
A tool for resilience that Delphine Dubreuil first applied to herself after a coercive relationship. “I wanted to use the tool of theater differently; I felt it had another strength.”
