The workshops, based in the former prison at Lancaster Caste and titled ‘The Liberty of the Prison’, demonstrate how the prison venue and its history of imprisonment, trial and execution can inform the understanding of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Measure for Measure.

Click here to watch the footage of the event on Youtube.

The Lancaster practical drama workshop on ‘Liberty of the Prison’ was held in C Wing and A Wing of the former prison working with A Level students at Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School demonstrating how the prison venue and its history of imprisonment, trial and execution can inform our understanding of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in which Hamlet declares, ‘Denmark’s a prison’ and of Measure for Measure with its paradoxical focus on justice, death, incarceration and freedom. Parallels between the two plays were drawn by considering the soliloquies of Hamlet on suicide and the speeches of Claudio and the Duke on imminent death; the oppressive atmosphere of Elsinore where all are ‘the observed of all observers’ and the culture of surveillance in Vienna under the Duke’s gaze. As an adjunct to the text-based study, students and teachers were asked to think about parallels with their own immediate experiences: the rigid boundaries imposed by the curriculum and that finding ‘the liberty of the prison’ while working within its prescribed walls is important.

“It helped to emphasise how in our lives there is almost constantly some form of surveillance on or around us and how rarely we think about it”

“The mark scheme leads to bondage to a particular way of thinking and also means your work is always being ‘watched’ to make sure it conforms to it”

“It was really interesting and similar to society today”

“This really helped to imagine what it was like for Hamlet and other characters to be ‘prisoners’ under surveillance. Our own progress is under surveillance”

“Always being watched”

“Definitely being a student can feel like being imprisoned, I can definitely sympathise with Hamlet”

“The castle gave a sense of claustrophobia and surveillance the characters would have felt”

“We are constantly watched”

“A Wing provided a sense of dominating with the balcony overlooking the cells, C Wing emphasised the idea of the Panopticon and the paranoia that comes with not knowing if you are being watched”

“Illuminating and chilling”

“Sense of no escape – ideas of oppression and not actually knowing if you are being watched or not is unsettling”

“We are, as teachers, watched from all angles: by the students, their parents, line managers, via data and also Ofsted. Degrees of self policing (not just a matter of professional conduct ) too e.g. email.”

 

“As teachers we are observed by external institutions, internal observations and constantly judged/watched by students with a pressure to not let them down/perform and their power if they feel disadvantaged. All literature  to be interrogated, looked at from every angle”