Inside Out

Inside Out - From a study in grief

‘Til Death’ led us into prison, and working with offenders who had experience of domestic abuse. As we ran the play and the workshop often the play caused flashbacks to moments in their own lives, and we’d explore these safely in the workshop. Many participants talked about a sense of loss when they came into prison and the emotional difficulty of adjusting to prison.

We found that many of them had nothing to look forward to coming out of prison, there old life and in some cases relationships had gone. They’d lost their jobs, their families and their homes. We started working on the link between prison and homelessness. We used the 7 stages of grief to structure it.

Inside Out became a conversation between two characters – one is just out of prison and in temporary accommodation, who argues he’s had a much worse deal than the other guy who’s street homeless.

Based on the conversations we’d had with men who’d had these experiences the dialogue and the arguments feel very authentic. Taking the play round a number of hostels across south Wales we found the actors would often be interrupted by audience members wanting to express their opinion on who had it worse and why. Inside Out was created on a voluntary basis. We tried a few places to get funding but were unsuccessful. Alan, Gareth, & Jason brought the play to life and spent a lot of time talking to the guys who wanted to know what had happened to them and where they were staying now.