Output details

The Gymnast

Arnfield’s solo performance The Gymnast (funded by Arts Council England Grants for Arts) was co-directed by the late Nigel Charnock (Co Founder of DV8 Physical Theatre Company). Arnfield, as an Associate Artist with the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam), worked with Cambodian staff to implement mechanisms to place individual testimony sourced from victims of the genocide in Cambodia 1975-9 into a public arts arena. This output was co-commissioned by DC-Cam and the Arts Council of England in order to provide sustainable vehicles within creative writing and performing arts practice which would allow and engage spectators in a more detailed reflection on that particular period of history. The objectives of the project and research were the facilitation and release of more memories from individuals and inter-generational groups viewing the performance.

Arnfield's research with DC-Cam is ongoing. From 2008 Arnfield, as an independent theatre practitioner, was offered unprecedented access to archived material at DC-Cam to construct a performance sourced from a country's testimony of victims and perpetrators. Arnfield then conducted research at the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and DC-Cam’s archives, and observed DC-Cam fieldwork with trained Khmer clinical psychologists and trauma specialists. Data of survival techniques and individual testimony was gathered for the performance.

The Gymnast script, now archived at ECCC and at DC-Cam, is to be utilised as a tool of learning within current and developing DC-Cam programmes and embedded within the ‘Museum of Memory Project’ at The Sleuk Rith Institute (which is a merging of DC-Cam into a new museum and educational resource for future generations of Cambodian and international visitors in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia). The Sleuk Rith Institute aims to promote peace and reconciliation through historical dialogue and arts-related activities.