PRACTISING DRAMA FOR LIFE
THE STORY SO FAR
In Summer 2025 Regeneration Theatre (RT) ran its first pioneering workshop Programmes in two His Majesty’s Prisons (HMPs) – Erlstoke (Wiltshire) and Wayland (Norfolk). What came out of those sessions was potent and compelling. Prisoner participants directly reported
• increased engagement with activity and each other – leading to articulated confidence around re-entering the world after prison;
• pushing themselves beyond their pigeon holes and comfort zones to gain a real sense of accomplishment and agency over their lives and their futures;
• the ability to access a range of emotions within themselves (something completely dulled on the wing) and empathise with emotions in others leading to highly improved interrelational skills in the prison, which they would then take forward into life.
OUTCOMES
MOST IMPORTANTLY WHAT PATICIPANTS REPORTED WAS HOPE FOR THEIR FUTURES
‘This will help everyone open up, improve in confidence.’
In Summer 2025 Regeneration Theatre (RT) ran its first pioneering workshop Programmes in two His Majesty’s Prisons (HMPs) – Erlstoke (Wiltshire) and Wayland (Norfolk). What came out of those sessions was potent and compelling. Prisoner participants directly reported
• increased engagement with activity and each other – leading to articulated confidence around re-entering the world after prison;
• pushing themselves beyond their pigeon holes and comfort zones to gain a real sense of accomplishment and agency over their lives and their futures;
• the ability to access a range of emotions within themselves (something completely dulled on the wing) and empathise with emotions in others leading to highly improved interrelational skills in the prison, which they would then take forward into life.
‘[I loved] meeting and learning from the guys who taught us and helped us. They were fantastic. I love acting. Thank you all so very much. Please come back. I would love to have the chance to work with you all again.’
‘The arts play an important role in building resilience and confidence and [I realise] is a sector with employment opportunities worth looking into’
‘[I felt] team work – faith in the team – [the wish to] help each other.’
Quotes from prisoner participants HMPs Erlstoke and Wayland
PRACTISING DRAMA FOR LIFE
‘Prison is a space where people are put with the expectation they will change and yet every day that passes is the same as the one before. Institutionalisation means staff and prisoners feel how it has been is the only way it can be. Theatre challenges that. It takes risks because it puts people centre stage and says ‘You can do this.’
There is no better way of supporting change than by embodying it by doing something you felt you couldn’t do, wouldn’t have a chance to do and, with support, seeing it through. Achieving that removes the main obstacles to change: doubt and fear. This is worth a thousand self-help books on how to change/develop.
Being part of a performance, putting yourself out on stage allows you to show a different version of yourself and, as people respond to that different version, things change.’
Testimony from our commissioner at HMP Erlstoke
WHY ARE REGENERATION THEATRE’S DRAMA WORKSHOPS DIFFERENT?
Trying, failing and sticking with it – our drama workshops work with an individual to unlock what is inside and release the self-discovery of what they are capable of. Regeneration Theatre drama workshops offer the possibility of a positive future. They are a bridge between the now and what could be. In short they engender HOPE.
Life on the wing in prison, in a homeless setting or living with mental health issues is difficult and lonely.
Any organised workshop outside of that isolation offers diversion, time with others, the learning of new skills.
All drama work in these settings offer something more – they offer participation in collective engagement, skills in drama techniques which can be translated to real life situations in work, family and negotiating situations, and encourage clearer self-presentation.
DOMINIC McHALE, Outreach Director
WHAT DOES CHANGING LIVES LOOK LIKE?
HOW DO YOU MEASURE IT? HOW CAN YOU USE THEATRE TO DO THIS?
We used theatre to help bring change into the mundane, allow exploration of making a mistake and finding the positive from it to build on. We used theatre to help prisoners understand what trusting others and working together towards a common goal can do. It brought fun and colour into an environment that is often oppressive. We gave our group an ability to explore sides of themselves they thought were long gone, or that they could never do. Taking a chance on believing in themselves and stepping in front of others to produce a piece based on a subject that a month ago they did not know. That is a positive step forward. And every step forward changes their lives.
One participant shared that they had always tried to live by the rule book, yet now — because of prison — they felt they had no real chance at a future. Thanks to the group, however, they will leave in October with a renewed sense of purpose and hope. That’s real change — change that theatre helped inspire in just four short weeks. A sustained programme, with peer mentors working alongside facilitators, could build on this impact and create truly transformative moments.
Testimony from our commissioner at HMP Wayland
But Regeneration Theatre drama workshops are different again…They
work with the participant to be an active co-creator, to create an embodiment of a bette life individually and in the collective ensemble of the group –
foster empathy and understandin of how we impact other and how other impact us. Vital for returning to engagement with the world of work family relations, housing issues, financial plans.
• employ humour throughout to encourag group understanding, committed attendance and engagement with the project, and thence with activity – and the world - generally
The result is the presentation of self-created piece of dramatic work, as a true theatre ensemble performed to invited audiences of peers and partners, using our source material – a highly regarded piece of professional touring theatre performed by a world clas actor. This creates a sense of achievement beyond any other learninh opportunities.
We are working with Strategic Housing and Community Employment specialists within the prison service to embed a real through line of support for participants, post release
