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A Path with Heart: Styal Prison and Cheshire Dance

On Friday 28th July I went with a friend to see a dance/drama at Styal Prison in Cheshire. It was one of those hot and sticky days and the officer at the gate was feeling the pressure; as well as being responsible for the security of 450 prisoners, he now had to contend with 10 extra visitors coming for one of the day’s three performances. I’d not been to HMP Styal before and its’ odd layout of small villas surrounding a more traditional wing was rather like a cottage hospital, all red-brick arts and craft. The grounds were quiet as we were shepherded towards the venue and seeing the children’s play area gave a sad and stark reminder that this was most certainly a women’s prison.

The Gymnasium that we were to see A Path with Heart in, had been converted into a studio space with an auditorium to seat, I guess, 200 people; so as we stood outside, reading our programmes and making small-talk with Cheshire Dance company, the gym staff and officers, it felt a relief to be joined by women of the prison. And joined we were indeed, by upwards of 100 women all in high spirits and ready for a change in their routine.

Styal

I’m sure we must have looked like a right group of do-gooders and still making polite small talk, I felt a wave of hysteria creep over me when the officer announced that we could take our seats, as the women pushed and shoved to get their places regardless of the polite outsiders, who all hung apprehensively back. We stumbled in through the dark to get a seat together and I gingerly hung my jacket on the back of my chair, remembering the gatehouse officer’s overzealous concern that anyone shouldn’t take bags and coats into the prison. The woman behind me gave me a naughty wink.

The raked seating looked down onto a large blank space, illuminated only by a vast digital projection of blue rippling water, cool and hypnotic on a sweltering evening. The noise and anticipation from the audience was phenomenal and I felt for the cast who were waiting in the wings to give the first of their three performances. The screen image faded and the cast walked confidently into position; the audience was silent.

Over the next 30 minutes, 10 women performed confidently with humour, beauty and grace. The piece was all about memory and over an intense three week period, the women had worked with both a dance and drama specialist from Cheshire Dance to create a performance piece that used deeply charged experiences; some sad, others uplifting and infected with humour. Married with film and photography, the performers shone and noticeably grew in stature as the event continued.

With lights to fade and proud bows, the audience erupted in a deserved riot of applause, stamping feet and wolf-whistles. It was great and justly deserved. I turned briefly, checking my coat was still there and the woman behind, her face like mine, beaded with sweat, gave me a broader smile and an even more rakish wink.

The performance was over and save a brief word of thanks from the governor and the unnecessary detail that he’d just come home from a holiday in Spain, the audience belted out as quickly as they could. A few of us went out into the sunshine to talk to some of the performers, who seemed elated with their performance, but keen for constructive criticism.

One of the women we talked with described how she’d never done this sort of thing before and how she had been so nervous before the performance, but more than that, she’d been really worried about how other prisoners would respond to the piece. She was overwhelmed with the response. She expressed real insight as to how drama could be developed to help women in the prison express themselves throughout their lives.

According to the government’s Social Exclusion Unit, nationally, 63% of sentenced female prisoners have a neurotic disorder; over three times the level of the general population and of those, 14% have a psychotic disorder, double the population of male prisoners and 23 times the level of the general population. Incidences of self-harm and suicide are high across the national female prison population and HMP Styal has experienced six deaths in just 12 months — accounting for nearly 50 per cent of all female deaths in the year 2002/3.

Whilst I wouldn’t suggest that participating in a project like this will have a huge impact on the mental health of the prison population; the work of Cheshire Dance and the staff at HMP Styal reflects a desire to humanise the experience of these women whilst they’re in custody and gives a real chance for them to flourish. Whilst this creative input can’t address the underlying impact of poverty, domestic violence and lack of opportunity; it does offer its participants the chance to taste their own potential, perhaps articulate their experience of life and most certainly allows these women to shine.

Clive Parkinson

Photograph reproduced with the kind permission of Neil Kendall

Posted on August 4th, 2006

5 Responses to “A Path with Heart: Styal Prison and Cheshire Dance”

  1. Zephryine Says:

    Hi Clive: As a prison monitor of some years standing, I would be most interested, after reading your account of “Dancing In Style” in a women’s prison, to discuss this experience further with you… I await your response.
    Yours culturally, Zephyrine ( + a certain M. Taylor)

  2. clive Says:

    Thank you for your comment Zephyrine. The prison monitors play a crucial role in the life of prisons and I hope that you’ll be able to share creative and cultural opportunities like this in the establishment you work at.

  3. Ruby oddie Says:

    Hi every 1 i took part in the path with heart performance n i loved every minute ov it fantastic xxx

  4. Clive Says:

    Brilliant Ruby…Keep on dancing.

  5. Paul Says:

    Plays in prison…c’mon is this prison or kindergarten…I mean the purpose of going to prison is to be punished for crimes commited not to enjoy themselves…they are not on the inside because they were good but because they were bad..oh how wrong some things have gone with the human rights mumbo jumbo…

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