| Rideout's
Chris Johnston reports on their recent Repeating Stories
drama and sculpture project |
"the Swing" by Wendy
Gwendoline |
Working with offenders, you're always looking for a
way into a more effective dialogue. It's not enough
to pitch for anecdotes, indulge in finger-wagging or
play The Clapping Game -again. You're looking instead
for a means to talk about crime/offending/who did what
to whom/how it hurt/how it'll be different next time/
a new life/etc without being either patronising, or
banal. In his theatre work for the oppressed, Boal talks
about 'working within the language of image' - manipulating
human sculptures and so having a conversation about
the relationship between the actual and the possible.
It's a remarkable encapsulation of an idea about theatre.
We wanted to find a similar language for a different
context.
In HMYOI Swinfen Hall, Saul Hewish and I worked with
a very angry young man who'd thrown a concrete slab
at a guy he thought was getting his girlfriend's attention.
We drew out an Anger Machine with and for this prisoner,
and discussed how this machine was powered, and the
consequences once it became powered up. We drew it on
the board then dramatised it. It seemed an effective
device to help him begin exploring ways of controlling
his aggression in the future.
So we began to wonder if a project where the inmates
built 3-D kinetic sculptures, related to their offending,
might be workable. It might take us into the territory
of dialogue where not so much is said, but what is said
has resonance. The tasks involved might be challenging
at several levels for the prisoners - problem-solving,
construction, dealing with failure and moving from idea
to design to execution, but also in relating it to their
offending. We didn't know anything about making kinetic
sculptures, but that seemed no reason to hesitate.
"The Machine of
Betrayal" by Kelly Nightingale |
A year later, we moved 25 kinetic sculptures into
the foyer of Birmingham Repertory Theatre, after 2
week projects in HMP Drake Hall, HMP Stafford and
HMYOI Swinfen Hall. With Jon Ford, a freelance sculptor,
and Kerrie Williamson from the New Vic Theatre's Borderlines
Programme, we worked with 30 inmates on 'Repeating
Stories'. While the prisons were nervous about us
carrying enough tools to make a sizeable dent in most
prison walls (electric saws, drills, hammers, files)
and enough materials to build several doppelganger
prisoners (perspex, aluminium, wood, wire, plasticene)
we finally managed, with the help of a RALP grant
and support from the Borderlines Programme, to persuade
them into co-operation.
"The Pull"
by Charles |
The final works were remarkable, a credit to the perseverance
and honesty of those taking part. Several themes came
through - drugs, alcohol, the cycle of crime, and
how hard it was to climb back up a hill after sliding
down (several times) when family and friends were
no longer there to carry you. In wrestling with these
themes - initially through drama, and then via sculpture
designs - the prisoners had to master from scratch
the essentials of building kinetic sculptures. This
meant not just how to use the tools but how to build
camshafts, pulleys and wheels and harness these to
the power of gravity - electricity was disallowed.
But of those who began, only 3 failed to complete
the project, one for reasons unconnected with the
programme. We were impressed with their staying power,
faced with a completely unfamiliar creative process.
We'd also recognised the obvious - inmates couldn't
get to the gallery to see their works exhibited. So
we created a CD-Rom, 'Repeating Stories', a virtual
gallery showing the exhibition, with audio comments
from visitors. The CD-Rom completed the cycle, showing
the prisoners/sculptors something of how their works
were exhibited and received.
"Lift-offl"
by Tim Birkin |
Contact:
Saul Hewish,
Rideout, Roslyn Works,
Uttoxeter Road,
Longton,
Stoke-on-Trent
ST3 1PQ
01782 501504.
e-mail: Rideout@fluxx.co.uk.
'Repeating Stories' is £12 inc. P&P (worth every penny).
Chris Johnston leads House of Games 03, training in
creative leadership/work with socially excluded young
people and adults, La Maison Verte, France, this September.
Details from:
houseofgames@fluxx.co.uk
|
