Theatre in Prison: Theory and Practice (review)

Theatre in Prison, an anthology of essays edited by Michael Balfour, discusses an important area of theatre practice outside mainstream theatre studies. This is a topic of personal interest to me, for in the spring of 2004 I had the opportunity to teach an introductory theatre course for a community college in a medium-security prison. This experience prompted me to pick up Michael Balfour's book. However, one does not need to be familiar with theatre in prison systems to find this book inspiring. The book "is a collection of international essays describing the rich diversity of theatre and drama work in prison-related contexts" (1) written by correction officers, theatre practitioners (directors, writers, professors), psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, inmates, and former inmates.

In the introduction, Balfour provides readers with a brief history of prison theatre and various theoretical methodologies, including criminology, from a broad international standpoint. In these seventeen pages, the author justifies the organization of the book and the selection of essays included. He defines theatre in the broadest sense of the term to encompass both theatre in prisons and prisons as theatre. This conceptual framework enables Balfour to compile a provocative range of articles. For example, the first chapter reprints an influential essay originally published in 1973, "A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison," by Craig Haney, Curtis Banks, and Philip Zimbardo. The authors describe the research findings of a simulated prison situation at Stanford University in which test subjects took on the roles of guards and inmates. James Thompson, in his chapter "From the Stocks to the Stage: Prison Theatre and the Theatre of Prison," examines the performative nature of executions. Clark Baim discusses the use of psychodrama to understand the violent tendencies of offenders in "'If All the World's a Stage, Why Did I Get the Worst Part?': Psychodrama with Violent and Sexually Abusive Men."

Some chapters of the book are complemented with performance texts produced during the course of theatre workshops. For example, Baz Kershaw's chapter, "Pathologies of Hope in Drama and Theatre," focuses on the creation of theatre that acts as a catalyst for change. Kershaw's work with a small group of inmates at the Lancaster Farms prison in England resulted in a script by one of the inmates titled "One Hour in the Semi Open (aka The Rat Run)." The text allows for a better understanding of Kershaw's work with the inmates and shows how theatre in prison can represent the life circumstances of prisoners in ways that lead to improved conditions.

On a personal level, the book encouraged me to reflect on my own theatre work with prisoners and to wonder how it fit into the greater scheme of theatre practice. In the introduction, Balfour sets out his goal for the collection: to offer varying opinions and to suggest "that the answers do not lie in the certainties and 'best' practices that can be copied and replicated. But that each artist who engages with a prison environment finds their own small indices of hope" (10). The answers lie in what the artist and the prisoners can gain from the experience; in other words, how can the artist grow personally and professionally from this experience? How can the artist help incarcerated individuals through theatre? How can participation in theatre give prisoners the ability to better help themselves?

The chapter that stands out most for me is Maud Clarke's "Somebody's Daughter Theatre: Celebrating Difference with Women in Prison." Clarke's essay covers her work with prisoners and ex-prisoners in Melbourne, Australia. Her starting point is the discovery she made while working with the prisoners: that these women were not fundamentally different from herself and that she could be one of them. Clarke points out that in order for prison systems to function, mainstream society must believe prisoners need to be separated from the general public so that what goes on in the "prison world" (101) is acceptable. Ultimately, her theatre work...