Shakespeare of the Oppressed

Abstract

This essay is a case study of Australia’s only project (to date) engaging prisoners in the performance of Shakespeare’s plays, the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble’s ‘Arts in Community Enhancement’ (ACE) project. As such, it forms part of a larger global phenomenon referred to as ‘Shakespeare Behind Bars’, named after its arguably best-known incarnation in Kentucky. Future research will examine the global phenomenon as a whole, but this chapter examines just the Australian project, from its development in 2006 to its current practice. ACE is unique, or at least highly unusual, with regards to other prison Shakespeare projects, in that it makes extensive use of the methodologies of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) in preparing for the performance of Shakespeare’s plays.