Piece Comment

Review of Shakespeare in prison


A solid report on how art can change lives. Shakespeare is the Olympics of acting so having prisoners (some who were illiterate) is a major challenge. This piece describes the process of rehearsing and learning how to perform "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and how it teaches literacy and increases self-esteem and communication skills. Though it's mostly a fun approach and doesn't delve very deeply into any prisoner's story, this is a nice drop-in for the summer. I have a feeling that access was very limited and the focus had to be just on the production itself. Still it would make a good addition to a news magazine.