By Mette Bøe Lyngstad and Astrid Koppen Mjanger University of Western Norway (HVL)
March 2023
CAN THEATER WITH INMATES BREAK THE PRISON WALLS?
A group of proud young men came smiling into the drama room at HVL, carrying the stage equipment for the show they were about to show. One smiled in recognition and commented that he had seen me before. Two weeks earlier we met in prison. Then he was the actor and I among the audience and as a sensor. It was the exam performance in the subject Applied theatre, where students in Master of Arts had prepared a performance together with inmates at Bjørgvin prison with actress and drama teacher Astrid Koppen Mjanger who is employed there. She is also teaching at HVL.
Theater in prison is an international phenomenon, where inmates voluntarily take part in drama and theater processes to explore interpersonal dilemmas and together create a performance. Through collective processes, an arena is created where the participants raise and illuminate different problem, and highlights different points of views in an aesthetic form. Students at Hvl have had several previous master's projects in the prison (Nødtvedt 2009, Mjanger 2021), each performance unique in their own way. But they have never been shown outside the walls, like this one. The production of 2023 was part of an international project, where inmates in Norway, Italy and Greece had Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo & Julie as a starting point for the creative work.
Two of the inmates in Bjørgvin prison wrote a new version together, called #Romeo&Julie, where the participants' own stories and experiences from the prison environment were woven into the plot. The participants in the theater project wanted to spotlight the double punishment inherent in serving time, - as this affects and has major consequences for both the inmate AND the next of kin, friends and family. There have been various articles in the newspapers recently: regarding statistical figures 71 people have taken their own lives in Norwegian cells since 2008. In the plot written by the inmates, Romeo was imprisoned, while Juliet lived outside the walls. The problem was complex: Julie, who was outside the walls, was the one who was hardest hit by the imprisonment. Being left alone on the outside with the loss, the pain, the shame and the sadness life got unbearable. Romeo applied the prison management for permission to leave jail just for a short period of time to take care of his increasingly ill lover, but the application was hidden and forgotten time after time. Romeo experienced neither being seen nor heard. Several oppressive situations were played out in the performance, such as when Romeo was strip-searched while the employees were talking to each other about their plans for the weekend. Outside the walls, the inevitable had to happen... Only then Romeo was granted leave, - to attend Juliet's funeral.
The theater performance highlights stories of injustice, but parts of the scenario were unfortunately recognizable to several inmates. Using theater to illuminate different aspects of life is therefore not only possible, but also necessary. When the inmates were invited to HVL to perform their play, it was precisely to allow more students and staff to both see the performance and take part in the conversation afterwards, under the direction of Astrid Koppen Mjanger. She led the dialogue between audience and performers, discussing and sharing thoughts about the aesthetic experience we had shared:
• Which moments made the strongest impression during the performance/what do you remember, and why?
• What thoughts do the audience have about the concepts of punishment and justice after seeing the play?
• What expectations did the audience have before the performance about what/who they were going to meet/what to see, and what are they thinking now? What and who met them?
• How did the participants experienced to play for an external audience/other than the inmates?
There was great commitment among the 30 members of the audience who were present. Many were clearly moved both by the performance and in the conversations afterwards. The head of the research program at Høgskulen på Vestlandet, Tiri Bergesen Schei, stated: I was thrilled by the great group of actors who communicated the content with a closeness and honesty that is rare. Master's students Maria Lillestøl and Camilla Trosterud emphasize that working with theater in prison was exciting, challenging and developing: The inmates met us with their hearts open and gave all in, in the process. They opened up to us and entered the work with respect and commitment, mixed with a lot of humor, they said. One of the inmates stated that he had never considered theater as an arena to express himself, and that it was like a new world had opened up to him through the creative work. Creating a platform where everyone can share their opinions and be "protected" by art, seems to us to be very important after participating in this process.
So perhaps this theater performance, the very world premiere outside the walls, did not tear down the walls of the prison. But equally, it tore down the walls between those who took part in the experience from the stage and those who saw it, it tore down the distinction between us and them, - into a common we. A shared experience that will live on in our hearts for a long time.
