I left Cornton Vale last Thursday feeling exhausted, emotional, and proud. I felt I had been part of a team that successfully delivered a drama residency in a context which I had no previous experience of. I felt proud as I feel that I brought my practice and my understandings of performance and integrated them into a challenging environment.
Driving home was a strange experience. I sat in the passenger seat pretty silent for most of the journey home. I was tired. I was also wanting to just be in my flat, with a cup of tea, and chatting to my flatmate. I felt guilty for wanting this. As we had left the prison, I knew that the women we had spent our time with had been walked back to their houses and were about to eat a meal, then to be placed in their cells. We were leaving what felt to be an eerie and silent place, but it had been like that each evening, but this evening it felt more resonant with me. I was leaving to go home, they were settling down for another night of their sentence. It was here that I realised the things I would miss if I were imprisoned, it was here that I appreciated that I was going back to my home, but it was also here that I, for the first time in the week, considered how prison is a prison, and you can’t walk away. You can see the world passing by from your cell window, with bars that block you from the outside world. You see people go about their daily lives and not enough acknowledge that over four hundred women live on the other side of that metal fence.
The next morning before heading to the Academy I sprayed some aftershave and I thought of those seven women, how they couldn’t spray perfume and how I could. I thought of how I wanted to call my mum and see how she was doing, and they couldn’t, how I could walk freely down Sauchiehall street and they couldn’t.
Spending that time in Cornton Vale, and studying this module this term has probably been the greatest gift I could have asked for on leaving the Academy. I have never been more challenged by my education and by my personal responses to what I was doing and who I was working with. There are some things from this term that I feel will stay with me for the rest of my life, and these I hope I will carry from day to day. I never imagined that I would meet such a diverse group of women, they did not match the street stereotype of a woman in prison, they, like us, are just another human being.
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Residency: Day four
There was a really exciting energy when all of the women came together, very few nerves, just a drive to get on and push through it all. They seemed prepared and just wanted to rehearse and show their performance.
The performance went down really well, the group made it feel really slick, and the audience really seemed to relate to it. We had tea and coffee after the performance, and the other women in the prison spoke really fondly of the performance. One of the women particularly talked about how she felt it were important to let go of some things in her life, something which I was really surprised about, pleasantly surprised. I had felt like that process had become really important to the women who we were working with, and even myself, but I did not consider what the value of the performance would be for an audience, something which I normally have more at the forefront of my mind. Without realising it, I too had become wrapped up in our wee group that we had founded at Cornton Vale.
The Reflection:
The reflection of any process is always important to me, from some of the end discussions in processes is where I have learnt most, or appreciated other’s responses to the process, and when I have been leading a part of a process I feel it is very important to understand how others navigated through it.
It wasn’t until we sat down and discussed it did I even realise what the importance of the three and a half days for our group of women was. One of the group spoke about how she was really struggling with confidence until this, something which quite a few of us couldn’t believe. It was at this point, from other’s responses, that I realised the complexities of the women that were sitting in front of me, not just the prisoners, but my colleagues, myself. I, for the first time ever, appreciated the complexity of a human being, the layers and masks we all wear. It was also here that I realised that I had no let my mask drop for the week, and I am not too sure how I feel about this. The women that were in that room had been brave and generous in sharing things with us, and I was not as generous back with my own experiences. Maybe this is a good thing so that I could truly focus on my role, but with me being so proud of the group, should I have been with them more? Or was it ok to be more on the sidelines, supporting the group, not allowing myself to become too vulnerable, but support them in their journey? I do not believe there is a right answer here, I think it may just relate to individual processes, but I found it interesting to note that I wasn’t as brave as those seven women from the prison, and I have not had the life experiences any of them have had.
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Residency: Day three
We started pulling a piece together, exploring new things in the morning and coming back after lunch with a structure for the group pulling the material into something that resembled a performance. The group were anxious about performing, not all of them necessarily wanted to perform so we asked all of the group to give a response. The group, except one, were excited by this, giving different reasons as to why they wanted to perform; some were doing because they felt that this was great for confidence, some were doing it because they had enjoyed the material, and some were doing it for the group. This was exciting to be in amongst.
We structured the performance and presented it back to the group, when it was drawn up on the the board the group could see the links and where they all were involved in each moment, and with blocking it out we got suggestions from the group as to how they would like some moments performed.
One of the group who seemed reluctant at the start, or would get bored easily, was determined that we kept rehearsing until it was right, this was when for me it felt important that the group were involved in decisions so that this was their thing that they had responsibility for, and they took the ownership of this, even telling myself, Lizzie and Kate how it should be done.
Learning points/Observations
-It is not about ‘meeting someone at their version of the world’, it is about two worlds finding a place to come together, acknowledging differences and similarities and moving from there. This is the place were collaboration can thrive I think.
-Working from within is just as important as being the lead facilitator. You can be the controller of the small cogs, which helps the big cog move.
-Facilitator before artist: In this context, and were we are turning out a piece of performance in a short period of time, with a group who are not necessarily confident at all, then we need to allow them to have some control and support them with that. It may not be the artistic vision that you imagined, but it is theirs, and they want to perform it, and I can still be proud of that piece of work.
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Residency: Day two
We knew that we had to come in with material and exercises that were of a different feel and energy to the end of Monday afternoon as it was quite heavy, so we decided to investigate place and look at building soundscapes using some of the places they were talking about missing or not remembering.
The group responded really well to something that from the outside could feel quite abstract. It was also a great day for myself Sarah and Lizzie to work out our relationship in the room. Each of us had a support and the other person was active within the smaller groups. This worked well so that there weren’t too many voices leading things, so it felt that things seemed to run a bit more smoothly today.
After our first day I was really struggling emotionally with being in this environment, so I felt like I kind of came back to day with a different attitude. I was aware of the environment now, not immune, but I had to remember why I was there, and if I were affected by all that was being talked about I wouldn’t get anywhere and neither would the residency. This was a time when it felt really valuable to think that we were making a piece of performance and that is the purpose for being there, it gave me a greater sense of focus.
Learning Points/Observations:
-I considered the role of a facilitator working from within the groups, a participant and a facilitator, supporting the session and also allowing the creative voices to emerge from the group.
-DIRECTOR _ FACILITATOR_DIRECTOR: Meeting the group as a director, but going on a journey with them in which their contributions are valued, and then moving on to being a director towards the end, responsible for pulling strands together.
-OWNERSHIP: Allowing the group to take choices and have discussions amongst themselves, making them take choices so that they have some control over the trajectory of the process too. Letting the director go for a bit, facilitating the discussions and ‘harvesting’ their responses, or pull the strands together.
-Not using terms like ’I find it interesting’ during reflections as this puts a level of authority on it already, this person being right. Allow for responses from the group and critique in an accessible way which furthers dialogues.
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Residency: Day one
We didn’t know what to expect, we had planned as best as we could, and Kate had told us to relax, get an early night, be prepared. We never really got a good night’s sleep all week, so being in bed before one was quite the achievement!
We got there with plenty of time, but were then delayed due to them needing to X-Ray everything in. We went to meet the group and had only a few people.
We got started, and only had around twenty minutes of a session to deliver. This worked out ok and we expected these delays in some way, we were just hopeful that we could have got there on time so that we could start as we wanted.
The day went really well, we met a warm and generous group of women who all seemed excited to be there. We had two Young Offenders originally in the group, but they did not even come back after lunch. I was really interested in how one of the YOs responded to us, it was very much in a way that they were the student and we were the teachers, having short attention spans and being pretty moody, this is to be expected I guess with it being such an institutionalised environment, they were likely not all that long out of a school system and could only relate to it in a certain way.
The group were really engaged and moved through the material at their own pace, nothing felt too rushed, and the groups were in synch in getting to similar places at similar times. Our introduction of the image above went really well, and the group took apart the image in many interesting ways which resulted in lovely performance moments.
Learning points and observations:
-The structure of a workshop that we create outside of the room has to be able to adapt to who and what is going on in the room.
-Talking and evaluation needs to come from everyone, not just the facilitators. The discussion and analysis could be deemed as being pointless if the group don’t go anywhere with it.
-Let go: Of directed ideas, let the group find the creativity in the work, let go of facilitation, all three voices don’t always needs to be in the room!
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‘Reform is no use anymore, because that is simply improving a broken model…What we need is not evolution, but a revolution in education. This has to be transformed into something else’
Ken Robinson, TED Talk, 2010.
I was writing about something else and I came across this article on the Guardian. The old days under a Thatcher rule where the rich got richer, and poor got poorer? Is this article showing that we could be having similar divides in our country starting within the schools, only a few weeks into this new coalition government?
In his more recent TED talk, Ken Robinson talks about education within the frame of it being a resource, but something which doesn’t acknowledge someone’s natural ability. In order to find someone’s natural ability, they need space, time, and are not just an entity in the system.
We were talking today about Ken Robinson, how in his TED talk about creativity in schools and in ‘Lessons for the Living’, he puts out proposals for a revolution in education systems knowing that these aren’t necessarily possible with the current structures that are in place. In his more recent talk, four years on, it feels as though he is just echoing his view from the previous talk. Education needs a revolution, and it can’t simply just be given a facelift when there is nothing underpinning it. These new academies that the Conservative government want to role out do not cater for the people who really need them, the allow the good schools to get better, and are not supporting the schools that necessarily need them.
I mention Robinson, the education system, and the new government in relation to what we are doing now because Prisons and the criminal justice system were not on the radar for any of the campaigning. Normally a party would have some new radical proposal, but not with this election. Are the prisons too much of a political hot potato? Are there no new radical proposals? Is the government stuck with what to do, or do they just think that this is working fine?
In order to make any radical difference within prisons, it is clear that there needs to be a complete overhaul, a revolution. When looking back through my notebook from our first week with Simon, there was the following quote I wrote down, but i don’t know where I got it from unfortunately:
‘One problem with crime is that it is invariably treated as though it were one thing, instead of many different things with varied causes, consequences and possible methods of prevention.’
The problems do not just exist in the prison, the prisons are near the end of the problem, it is all of the things that come before which make a person commit a crime and end up in there. Social deprivation, a lack of education, poor housing and troubled upbringings. These issues need to be addressed alongside the prisons themselves so that there can be a holistic move forwards. The answer is not necessarily to build more prisons, or expand a prison, what are the things that are happening outside of those prison walls, that end up having someone inside of the prison?
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Sensitivity
Sensitivity to the context
Sensitivity to the group
Sensitivity to the process
This has been something that has buzzing around my mind. What is our role going in, how do we support the group, how do we develop work in a safe and creative environment, and how can we challenge the group, ALL whilst being sensitive to their needs and the context within which we are working?
These are also some of the most exciting questions, challenging me as a facilitator to work with and for the group, also challenging me to consider what are our back-up plans, how can we connect with the group and how can we make something which both ourselves and the group are proud of? These are the reasons why I elected to do this module, for the challenges of the new context and also to try and see how I can make my practice relate to it.
It is scary going into this context, meeting a new group that I have tried to not make assumptions about, but you cannot help make assumptions about due to us going into a prison. We know that they have done something to be convicted, and we are aware of mental health issues being extremely high, but what to expect is something I am unsure of!
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A working partnership
Today we headed up to Stirling to visit Cornton Vale prison. This was our first visit to the prison where we will be leading our residency in June.
Having had the opportunity to visit two prisons, HMP Perth and HMP Polmont Young Offenders Institute, this prison has a very different layout, and we received a really warm welcome from the staff.
Having done some research already as to what Cornton Vale was like, it was great to get inside and see what it was really like, or at least see as much as we could. The layout of the prison is a lot more open. The women stay in ‘houses’, small building that resemble low level council flats. These are built amongst lots of greenery and there is space around all of them. The windows have view of the green, there is no wall, but a fence instead which you can see through the top sections. The officer informed us that the women are house with seven rooms to a single kitchen, so there is a level of independence. Although they are housed like this and this sounds pretty good, the actualities of it are somewhat different. From the way that it is described, you would imagine that the women could roam freely around their house, but there are still elements of control in place, the doors are locked, they request permission to leave, their food is served up from a central location etc. The ‘normal’ expectations of a prison I guess.
I did not know what to expect meeting the education department, but we prepared with a list of questions we wanted to ask. Walking into the prison, it felt organised, we were issued with badges which has been arranged with our names on. It may sound daft, but it good to walk in feeling welcomed and feeling as though the prison was well prepared for us, it gives off a really positive first impression.
We were escorted to the education block, walking outdoors amongst the houses and one of the senior wardens who was leading the group was asking questions of our experience of prison and informing us about this prison. After having a brief chat with the lady in charge of education, Kaye, with the senior warden, Kate and Bryan, Kaye felt that it would be important to have the officer responsible for welfare and addiction in on the conversation about who would be recruited for the project and what the project would be.
We took in an idea for a stimulus so that we had something to discuss and work with. We wanted to work with the idea of Memory and Communication, and after discussions with the team, we are expanding this to include Change. The important thing for us in taking a frame in is that it is open for the group, and open enough for us to work with and adapt to the group’s needs. We also wanted to take in something that the prison could latch on to, that felt as though it could link in to any issues they wanted us to deal with, whilst also making sure that we knew that we would want to facilitate something in that region. It didn’t become a compromise, it became a partnership, each side bringing their own expertise and knowledge.
It was great to go into a context and be trusted in role as an expert, appreciated, yet they also understood that we were on a learning journey and wanted to support us too. What was really interesting from the conversations around the table was that I felt as though I could discuss the terms of the project, what it will be, what it won’t be, and how we will go about things. The staff spoke of how they have had psychologists work as part of a process before alongside a company(I think it was their work with Geese) and how there was a concern for what happens to the women after, and how these conversations can open up areas that are difficult for the women. I spoke about the roles of psychodrama, acknowledging from only research and a lab, and how we understand the processes of that as opposed to investigative performance making, and how we would work with light and shade in terms of memory, seeking for what they aim to achieve alongside potentially difficult subject matter. We want to make the group feel hopeful amongst it all. We do not want to be irresponsible as the prison need to allow us to be in position of trust that they are granting us.
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Assumptions
“I go out, hang about, drinking and I get high. There’s nothing else to do except for getting wasted.”
The Scheme, BBC1 (18.05.2010)
In class yesterday we started the session with Kate by looking at each other and making assumptions. I decided that it was best for me to make assumptions about the people from a time that I didn’t know them, but I only made assumptions about them in a way which I hoped would not offend. We all make assumptions of each other, every day, but what are these assumptions based upon?
Tonight I watched ‘The Scheme’ on BBC Scotland. It is described by the BBC as being an ‘observational documentary’, where a film crew placed themselves in a Housing Estate in Kilmarnock for a year and followed six families in their ‘everyday lives’. From the opening credits of the programme there was a presence of violence, drugs, swearing and lots of shouting. This instantly frames the viewer’s engagement with the programme, or even with the series.
As soon as it started I received a text message off a friend asking if I was watching it, sending me quotes as it was happening. This would probably what I would normally do, send a banterful text message to a pal. This time it did not feel right though. What was it that had changed?
Since starting to read around for this TiPP module, and from having discussions with classmates, facilitators and my friends I have considered where my assumptions come from, who I believe a criminal to be, and also, how can I challenge these notions.
From looking at facts and figures and researching who it is in prisons, it is clear to see that many people come from the backgrounds which can be seen in this programme. People who are unemployed, from lower class households, have poor access to education, have a history of crime in the family, and have easy access to drugs. ‘The Scheme’ is all of these things.
But with a television programme from a reputable channel such as BBC, a publicly funded channel, should they not have a responsibility to investigate these things thoroughly, present the issues from different angles, rather than just simply presented trashy TV? Where is the social responsibility?
The BBC is happy to show the violence, the crime, the young mother, a shot of a woman lying in bed smoking with no dialogue, what is the use of this shot? It shows someone who we can look at and place a judgement on, she states she is claiming the dole, and then 5 mins later we see her in bed smoking a cigarette. The show has been edited to give an audience what they want, we want to place a judgement on others, we want to place ourselves above them in a social status, we want to talk about how they are wasting tax payers money.
What we don’t want to talk about is how are these problems caused. Who is in charge? How can we help these people? A phonecall from the school to ask where a child is isn’t enough. It is not enough to just tick a box to say ‘we did that’ and then hand a file over to another department. It is a time in which we should consider how we need an overhaul of our views and values. How can the arts and social organisations be used to stop these vicious circles? How can we offer other opportunities to show careers, things other than crime, drugs, alcohol and violence. How can we change our own judgements and assumptions?
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