We at ‘Shakespeare For Our Children’ want to highlight a wonderful and remarkable episode from “This American Life” NPR radio program. (Listen here.)
First broadcast in 2002, this episode chronicles the work of the Prison Performing Arts organization, and its staging of Hamlet at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center, all conceived and directed by the peerless Agnes Wilcox.
With the inmates themselves performing in the production, and reflecting on their lives as they inhabit the characters, this is a celebration of the transformative power of Shakespeare’s theatre.
Although a great deal of the content may be too intense for children, teachers can learn much from this documentary about the literally life-changing impact of entering Shakespeare’s world. As one inmate explained, “After doing this, I felt like I was human again . . . Like I really could do anything when I get out.”
This is truly among the greatest gifts which Theatre can provide: a feeling of shared humanity, of creativity and accomplishment. It also brings to mind the words of one of our young SFOC actors following a performance: “I felt like I was flying! I know I’m going to dream about this tonight.”
What unites the responses of a young child and an adult prisoner? Perhaps the shared feeling of liberation, of belonging, which occurs on the stage. It is a marvelous thing that Shakespeare continues to make possible, hundreds of years later; for with his profound understanding of human nature, the great Bard’s words allow us to express the truths of our universal experience ― no matter what may be our circumstances.
©2017