Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble

Shakespeare Prison Project Presents Macbeth

The Shakespeare Prison Project of the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble in St. Lucia, Australia, will be presenting Macbeth in two "very limited public performances" on Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Southern Queensland Correctional Centre.

The performances, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., will run for 1 1/2 hours and include a Q&A session with cast and facilitators.

The Shakespeare Prison Project mounts a Shakespeare production inside a maximum-security men's prison with up to 20 prisoners as players. The heart of the Shakespeare Prison Project philosophy is that violent behavior often arises from an inability to express negative thoughts and emotions in words. It uses theater as a medium, since one of theater's main tools is embodied language. The project utilizes a combination of Shakespeare text and drama games, in particular Theatre of the Oppressed techniques developed by Brazilian theater-maker and activist Augusto Boal. These are designed to create an atmosphere of trust and emotional safety for the participants, to invite them to connect their personal experiences to their acting, and to tease out themes that the prisoners want to explore. A Shakespeare play is then chosen to rehearse and perform based on these themes.

The Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble has run the project seven times since its inception in 2006. The productions were opened to the public beginning in 2012.
Those attending must bring a current photo ID and complete a Security Form 27a in order to gain entry to the venue. Arrival time for all is a minimum of one hour prior to performances for security processing.

To book tickets online, visit qldshakespeare.org/book_tickets_spp.html. For more information and to download a Security Form 27a, go to qldshakespeare.org/prison_performances.html.

October 21, 2016

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