Output details

Process and Performance of The Government Inspector

The aim of the research was to test whether taking part in a play and in particular, playing a role, could have a positive motivating effect on a prisoner’s ability to change their view of themselves and how they saw themselves in the future (future possible selves). Theatre in prison asks participants to consider their present ‘self’ and in taking part in a play to consider the extent to which the experience offers them a liminal space in which to create an ‘imagined’ self through the taking on of a role and also the ways in which a future possible ‘self’ is illuminated by the work.

Question:

To what extent can a play be used to give prisoners the opportunity to imagine future possible selves?

This research was conducted by McKean in collaboration with a Forensic Psychologist, Dr. Ann Henry, and was framed within the context of socio-cognitive psychology including theories of ‘Possible Selves’ (Markus & Nurius 1986; Markus & Wurf 1987) and dispositional Empathy (Davis 1980, 1983). Henry and McKean conducted semi-structured interviews with participating prisoners and a control group. Interviews were conducted at the beginning, mid-point and end of the project. The prisoners’ current construction of self and the ways in which taking part in the theatre project brought about shifts in self-perception and the construction of a possible future self were measured through the use of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews.

The results of the questionnaires and interviews demonstrated significant shifts in attitude from some of the participating prisoners. However there were some prisoners who could be classed as ‘career criminals’ whose attitudes did not change significantly. The attitude of the control group did not undergo any significant changes.