#brotherssize

NhT and Two Borough members gathered at HMP Wandsworth today for a performance of The Jumper Factory, a play created with inmates of the prison in response to the Young Vic’s Main House show, The Brothers Size.

The group have been working since February with director Justin Audibert, writer Luke Barnes, and other members of the Young Vic’s Taking Part team.  During the three months the group have been working together they have, says Justin, “played games and experimented with writing exercises....shared stories, life experiences and emotions in an honest manner”.  The result is a brilliantly raw and honest play with the participants’ own stories right at its heart.

The piece was performed by the men who participated in creating the piece.  It is performed without the shine and polish of a theatre setting, in their own voices and own words, sitting on chairs in the prison’s chapel, facing the audience.  We heard the story of a man who told his mother he was away working because he couldn’t face telling her where he really was; a man separated from his children and facing the anguish of knowing life was going on outside the prison walls without him; the challenges of resisting the temptation of drugs; and the trajectory of young men hardened and embittered by prison life.    

Justin says “we have made a show that reflects life in HMP Wandsworth.  More importantly we have made a piece of work that captures the diverse life experiences and hopes for the future of all those who have taken part”.  As part of this project, the play will later be performed by young men on the outside who are at risk of offending.  This seems a brilliant way to bring the piece a full circle but, even without this additional layer, the play project is important for the voice it gives men in the prison system.  As writer, Luke Barnes, points out, these men “are under immense psychological and emotional pressure” which is further exacerbated by “hyped up masculinity” and “isolation”.  For him, “making a show that makes prisoners feel less alone in their emotional and psychological journeys is the entire reason why art should exist”.