The argument started with a trifle: “Edu” laughed at something on his phone but refused to show it to his girlfriend “Ali”. She got angry and they started fighting.

Angry words turned to shouts and insults, and suddenly an enraged “Edu” grabbed her phone and threw it on the classroom floor, where it shattered. The violent gesture shocked the group of teenagers watching.

The confrontation between the two characters, played by actors, is part of a play by the Teatro Que Cura (The Healing Theater), which attends a high school in the town of Parla, near Madrid, to raise awareness of domestic violence.

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and in Spain, which enacted Europe’s first law against it in 2004, experts agree education is key to reducing the problem.

In May, official figures showed that gender-based violence was growing fastest among under-18s, with the number of female victims rising by nearly 30 percent from 514 in 2020 to 661 in 2021.

It was unclear whether this was due to an increase in violence or an increase in reported incidents.

Set at El Olivo High School, the play begins with the couple getting ready for their first date, and Edu wows the 15- and 16-year-olds with a humorous monologue in which he worries about his looks, his clothes and his chances power to get laid.

But the laughter dies down as their relationship develops – and the teens are encouraged to reflect on their arguments and what they would have done differently.

“The goal is to help youth build relationships based on equality and prevent domestic violence,” says Susana Martin Cuezva, a therapist who runs Teatro que Cura and moderates the discussions.

“The idea is that the students experience a tension or conflict situation in the here and now and solve it differently than the actors deal with it, namely always with violence.”

“It’s good to show it like that. If you see it on the street, it’s just a quarrel between two couples. old Patricia Garcia.

As the plot develops, the audience is prompted to voice their thoughts directly to Edu or Ali, with each actor improvising a response.

“I’ve lost my head, I’m not really like that,” Edu told a student after the phone wrecking incident.

“Yeah right. First of all, give me some space and don’t try to intimidate me,” she says calmly. When he starts arguing, she walks away – to cheers and applause from the students.

What bothered Mario Carmona, 16, the most was the insults and the jostling.

“Unfortunately, it was quite realistic and it’s happening more often than you’d expect,” he told AFP.

“It’s not easy to understand what’s happening, even though these arguments are pretty normal. But it’s good to have someone to support you and wake you up when things get a little out of hand.”

Founded in 2017, Teatro que Cura uses interactive theater to immerse teenagers in dramatized scenarios of inequality and violence to raise awareness of conflict and gender-based violence.

Over the past five years they have worked with around 9,000 teenagers aged 14 to 19, mainly in the Madrid area.

Studies show that education is vital, with a 2021 Spanish government report finding that sex education courses that focus on equality and violence “reduce the risk of resorting to gender-based violence in boys and experiencing it in girls “.

“Young people who are educated about gender-based violence are at lower risk,” educational psychologist Maria Jose Diaz-Aguado told El Pais newspaper.

“If you get that kind of education in school, you can become aware of these things much earlier,” agrees 16-year-old Maryam Calderon.

Silvia Serrano Martin, El Olivo’s school psychologist, said the sessions had been very effective.

“It’s really helped raise awareness about domestic violence because it reaches them more directly in such an experiential way,” she told AFP.

“This is a useful prevention tool, but also good for identifying risky cases.”

Sometimes students come forward to share their experiences privately, which in some cases involves situations of “real urgency,” says Susana Martin Cuezva.

“Once a boy came to talk to the actor and said he identified with Edu, he started to get violent towards his partner. He broke down in tears and told us he needed help and didn’t want to repeat what happened at home,” she said.

The case was immediately referred to a regional unit on gender-based violence.

“I’ve learned that I have to put myself first,” Garcia, 15, told AFP when asked what she took away from the session.

“When a relationship starts to get aggressive, you need to walk away for your own good.”