Output details

Process and Performance of Stand or Fall

This outcome builds on McKean’s extensive prison theatre research and is the first of four outputs that posed different research questions. McKean’s question for the 2008 production was:

• How can the experience of prisoners taking part in a play be made more meaningful by close collaboration with a playwright?

McKean commissioned the playwright to write a play that developed and explored themes which might help the prisoners examine and re-construct their identity. The playwright directed this piece. The project was also designed to examine the ways in which material for the play and the development of the script could be responsive to the group of prisoners taking part.

The play was developed with a group of prisoners based on workshops delivered over a 3 month period. McKean’s research process facilitated and documented how the environment, the relationships established and the workshop exercises enabled the prisoners to interact with the project’s creators. Prisoners were able to comment on and adapt the script and respond to workshop methods. McKean’s role as participant observer facilitated dialogue between the playwright and prisoners throughout the process. This enabled the creation of a play the prisoners felt they could relate to and of which they had ownership.

The documentary film was to recorded the process. Making the film gave prisoners and the director/playwright space to reflect on the process of making the play.

McKean’s research demonstrates how prisoner engagement is enhanced by a personal, collaborative and creative stake in the production. Prisoner commitment to the project grew through their contributions to developing themes explored in workshops and changes to script in rehearsals. Themes explored in the play (peer pressure, role models, constructions of masculinity, class, consequences of decision making) resonated with the prisoners. The documentary film evidences comments about this.