Author diaries

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18 December 2003 Entry: "Prison"

Hardly had time to draw breath and get over jet lag from the Philippines and I was into working in a Prison, full time for two weeks, helping put a christmas show together.
Very different experience, from international women playwrights to an all male environment, where the system is structured to the Nth degree, and power resides in fine detail at all levels.
It was a mystery to me how an enclosed system that is designed around surveillance and sophisticated security checks can lose lists of people and end up with men in the wrong place, which then takes half an hour to sort out because men can’t be moved unless there is an officer free to accompany them. Also all inmates are subject to sudden security checks and restrictions. It made it difficult at times to organise rehearsals as I never knew whether I would have all my cast. Of course, the men say the system is designed to frustrate them, they call it ‘Mind F**k’ but it affects everyone who works with them as well.
Apart from the inevitable frustrations of the system, people I met were helpful and supportive and the process was fascinating and rewarding. I had to design a performance piece that could incorporate the inherent difficulties - so it was structured in slots that could be inserted or dropped as time and personnel were uncertain. Given that we only had two weeks to create the finished piece from beginning to end, the script was a guide, much of it was improvised, as no one had time to write, rehearse and learn a full script.
We performed a 45 minute show to a generally appreciative audience, but most importantly the performers enjoyed the experience and got all the buzz and confidence boosting that anyone gets from taking part in a live performance

During the two weeks I went one evening to the Centre for the Children’s Book in the Ouseburn, where the Arts Council’s Strategy for Children’s Literature was being launched. It was a very positive affair, acknowledging the importance of literate children with a grounding in books as a basis for a cultured society. Our own Mark Robinson from the Arts Council was saying the first poetry we learn is nursery rhymes and they stay with us to the end, even if our memory for all else has gone.
It struck me very forcibly as there I was in a prison where large numbers come in unable to read and write, and that is one positive thing prison can help them with; but also sitting with this group of men, trying to find some common texts to warm us up with, the only thing we all knew the words to was:
Humpty Dumpty.