Why ‘the play’ is not the only thing…

Regeneration Theatre’s ‘Hamlet’ is more than just another theatre show. Wherever our Hamlet is performed, we will support and augment the impact that it will make by delivering a significant amount of outreach work.

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

Hamlet is a play about ambition, loyalty, honour and imagination. It is also about isolation, psychological torment, loneliness, and madness. Mark Lockyer (our principal Hamlet) knows too well all about those things, because for his whole adult life he has lived with - and suffered the consequences of - severe bipolar disorder, an illness that has wreaked almost unimaginable chaos in his life. But with time, creativity and patience he has recovered. And a big part of this recovery was his connection and reconnection to theatre. In acknowledging this there is a powerful message of hope that we cannot, and will not, ignore.

Our ‘Hamlet’ was created because of Mark’s talent – but what we do with it is happening because of Mark’s experience.

WHAT IS OUTREACH WORK?

Outreach is the activity of “providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services”. And a key component of outreach is that it “involves meeting someone in need of an outreach service at the location where they are”.

And so, alongside playing in established theatres, Regeneration has taken Hamlet to the people and places left behind - to people who can’t get to the theatre because of finances, geography or because of illness, or because they’re incarcerated in some way – and to young people so left behind and forgotten about that they don’t even know that theatre is a “thing”.

During our pilot tour, we have taken our work into two prisons (HMP Erlstoke, and HMP Wayland), and a homeless project (St Mungos), and are taking it into a psychiatric hospital in Manchester later this year. Our lead actor has lived experience of all these types of setting. The work in each setting was carefully tailored for that precise setting - it has involved several weeks of specifically tailored workshops follwed, at the end of a four/five wekk period, by a performance involving both Mark Lockyer and the workshop participants, and so far has been fantastically well- received.

NEXT STEPS

Owing to the outstanding success of our work in HMP Wayland and HMP Erlstoke we will be returning to both in 2026. We will also be taking our work into HMP Warren Hill and HMP Hollesley Bay. We are also starting discussions to take workshops into HMP Brixton and HMP Lewes.

These residencies are extremely high impact and are genuinely life-changing for the participants in a wide variety of ways.

Everyone involved in Regeneration Theatre is hugely proud of this Outreach wokr, and we all hope to build on it more and more as we grow.