Prison Theatre: Practice and Perspectives

Drama residencies in prison, Rob Clare; women ex-prisoners' theatre, Pauline Gladstone,; ex-offenders' theatre, Chris Johnston, the need for evaluation, Michael Balfour and Lindsey Poole; the prisoner;s perspective, Joe White; bringing Broadmoor up to date, Murray Cox; theatre with sex offenders, Bridget Eadie; the Brazilian perspective, Paul Heritage; arts and the institution, Anne Peaker; women prisoners and drama, Jenny Hughes; theatre and violence, Simon Ruding; dramatherapy with offenders, Sally Stamp.

Prison Theatre... offers a variety of perspectives on a range of practical and theoretical approaches to the use of drama and theatre in prisons and probation. Although mostly about the criminal justice system in Britain the work undertaken in Brazilian prisons gives examples of working practices and a positive commitment to work in the arts in prisons that could be studied further in this country. Particularly interesting and useful are the four chapters which deal with the therapeutic and rehabilitative aspects of using drama and theatre in secure settings including the use of creative processes to examine the roots of offending behaviour and in building prisoners' confidence, self-esteem and communication skills. The practices described in this book challenge the 'deeply reactionary notion that punishment has any significant determining effect on crime' (p. 40). The preface to each section, by an American who is now serving a life sentence without the chance of parole, and the chapter by Joe White (an ex-offender, now a playwright and director) offer ample evidence of the powerful and positive effect of this kind of work. An over-arching focus within the whole publication is the overlap between work in drama and theatre and the links between therapy, education and rehabilitation. It is clear that a hybrid form of practice is being developed in this particular context which is worthy of further in-depth study.