'This Place is Full of Drama Queens': Reflecting on the Value of Drama in a Women's Prison

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Woodland, Sarah
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Balfour, Michael

Bartleet, Brydie

Davey, Linda

Rynne, John

Schippers, Huib

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2019
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After 15 years of running drama workshops in women's prisons, I wish I had a dollar for every time a c.orrections officer has joked with me, 'This place is full of drama queens!: These officers are likely referring to the tense, hyper-feminine environment of the prison, or alluding to the 'acting skills' that are brought to bear in the theatre of crime and punishment. I have also heard, for example, the sarcastic comment, 'We've got plenty of actors in here: These kinds of comments reflect (among other things) a trivialization or de-valuing of prison drama programmes that can unfortunately come from some quarters within the institution. But for me, the prison drama workshop rarely elicits the kinds of dramas that these comments imply. It is a dynamic, celebratory, respectful and often-reflective space, where being a drama queen means embracing the art form and all it has to offer in rounding out our human experience. Contrary to the sarcastic gate comments above, my most recent project could not have gone ahead without the tireless dedication of a small number of activities officers who dearly saw the value in what we were doing.

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Performing Arts in Prisons: Creative Perspectives

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© 2019 Intellect Books. The Author retains moral and all proprietary rights other than copyright, such as patent and trade-mark rights to any process or procedure described in the Contribution. The attached file is reproduced here with permission of the copyright owner(s)

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Creative and professional writing

Performing arts

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Woodland, S, 'This Place is Full of Drama Queens': Reflecting on the Value of Drama in a Women's Prison, Performing Arts in Prisons: Creative Perspectives, 2019, 4, pp. 69-84

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