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Letter: Dr Alan Clarke recalls the rehabilitative power of art and performance in the prisons he visited
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Society — The Guardian
With regard to the article about Mark Rylance’s Shakespeare workshops in Brixton prison ( ‘That’s what saved me’: Darren Raymond and Mark Rylance on the prison drama workshop that brought them together, 30 August ), I was lucky enough to experience one of them, which had a profound impact on me. It was my first time inside a prison, and after passing through security it was a real surprise to find myself in a proper drama studio. Thanks to the initiative of Bruce Wall and the London Shakespeare Workout, a former canteen had been converted into a drama space.
For the workshop that I witnessed, Mark had been working on a Shakespeare speech with one of the prisoners, who then performed it to the rest of the group. In a quiet, sensitive manner he presented the speech – not by Othello or one of Shakespeare’s male characters but by Cleopatra mourning Antony. The astonishing thing was the response of his audience – no mockery from prisoners in a high-security prison at a fellow prisoner playing a woman, but complete respect for an actor performing a role.
This experience led to me developing a prison arts project with Bruce and subsequently 10 years of projects encouraging prisoners across Europe to use the arts to help cope with prison life and their rehabilitation on release. But this initial experience in particular stayed with me, as an inspiration for what art can achieve for those unfortunate enough to be incarcerated. As one of the most effective ways of helping prisoners change their lives for the better, encouraging arts in prisons is even more crucial today with the crisis that our prisons are facing.
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For the workshop that I witnessed, Mark had been working on a Shakespeare speech with one of the prisoners, who then performed it to the rest of the group. In a quiet, sensitive manner he presented the speech – not by Othello or one of Shakespeare’s male characters but by Cleopatra mourning Antony. The astonishing thing was the response of his audience – no mockery from prisoners in a high-security prison at a fellow prisoner playing a woman, but complete respect for an actor performing a role.
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Source: The Guardian. Published 4 Sept 2026, 04:57 pm.
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