Taking the Bard behind bars

Shakespeare’s work speaks to people from all walks of life, as Dr Rob Pensalfini knows first hand.

The UQ linguistics lecturer and his wife Anne are leading an Arts Community Enhancement (ACE) program at the Borallon Correctional Centre, which will culminate in a performance at the prison in May.

Approximately 20 inmates are working with Dr Pensalfini and colleagues from the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble (QSE) after a world-first pilot program at Borallon in 2006.

The project ties in with the work of theatre practitioner and activist Augusto Boal and is the among the first to fuse his theories and Shakespeare in a prison context.

Dr Pensalfini said ACE philosophy held that violent and other disruptive behaviour often arose out of an inability to express negative thoughts and emotions through appropriate means.

“In Shakespeare’s works, players find the means to express the very thoughts, feelings and situations that are the most difficult to put into words,” he said.

“Shakespeare places his characters in extreme and disruptive situations, then demands they be extremely eloquent about the experience.

“It is through the embodiment of these dramatic texts that detainees will most acutely be able to acknowledge and address rupture in their own lives.”

Inmates and their families will participate in weekly workshops for the next three months, choosing a Shakespearean piece for performance that reflects their realities and experiences.

In 2006 The Tempest was selected for its discussions of incarceration, loss of privilege and freedom, isolation and power.

Twenty participants completed a five-day intensive on Boal’s techniques at UQ Ipswich last week, including three QSE members who are working at Borallon and several Indigenous performers who hope to use the techniques in their local communities.

Dr Pensalfini said dramatic performance was a unique and effective way to reach prisoners and aid their rehabilitation.

The ACE initiative is made possible by support from Borallan staff and funding from the QSE and Arts Queensland.

Media: Dr Pensalfini (r.pensalfini@uq.edu.au), Anne Pensalfini (pensalfi@bigpond.net.au) or Cameron Pegg at UQ Communications (07 3365 2049, c.pegg@uq.edu.au)