WHAT DO WE HAVE PLANNED NEXT?

Where we go next

HMP Warren Hill

Along with our partners Second Stage we are currently working at another prison in Suffolk, this time HMP Warren Hill, a category C prison, which primarily holds men serving long-term sentences, life sentences, and indeterminate sentences. Dominic and his team have been working two days a week at the prison since the beginning of October, and are developing a play about leaving prison after a very long sentence.

At the end of the month Second Stage will join us, and train some other prisoners in lighting and sound, and then the whole play - with this technical support provided by the prisoners - will be presented to an invited audience. We will report back here in a couple of weeks.

AND AFTER THAT?

Demand is already ahead of us. Our work in prisons has been noticed, and the question now is how fast we can say yes.

1. More prisons, using Forum Theatre

Forum Theatre gives people in prison a “rehearsal for reality”. They act out the situations that worry them most about release, such as a job interview where an employer asks about a past offence. Others can step in and try a different response.

After our work at HMP Wayland, five prisons in East Anglia have shown interest in running Forum Theatre programmes. Two prisons in London have too.

We also want to reach more prisons in the South West. Our contacts at HMP Erlestoke are helping to introduce us.

Each new programme means four weeks inside a prison. It takes a skilled team, careful preparation with prison staff, and a closing performance or sharing for the people who took part.

2. Women’s prisons, from 2027/8

Women leaving prison face different challenges from men, and the effects of custody on women can be devastating.

We want to bring our Forum Theatre workshops to women’s prisons. We hope to do this alongside a partner charity who understand these issues deeply. Together we want to find ways of better preparing women for life after prison.

3. New theatre from inside the workshops

The workshops produce ideas, voices and stories worth sharing. We’d like to develop new work from them.

In time, this could become a professionally produced and performed play or film, written at least partly by current or former prisoners. We are already taking the first steps at HMP Erlestoke where we have been working with Penned Up to involve participants from its prison writing programmes.

Why it matters

Participants at our recent pilots told us what the work did for them. Everyone in the feedback group said they felt less anxious and more confident, and 60% said their anxiety had dropped dramatically. (Self-reported by one group.)

How this will be funded

We are looking at Trusts and Foundations, philanthropic giving, the Ministry of Justice, Arts Council England and commercial sponsors. Our current residencies are funded by private donations, so every gift helps us say yes to the next prison.