Last Autumn I conducted workshops in HM Prison New Hall, a closed category prison for female adults situated in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Initially I was feeling apprehensive about working in this field as it is something completely new to myself. The reason why I chose this placement group is because of how passionate I am about the ability theatre has to rehabilitate offenders, acting as a vehicle for change. The most testing part of this placement was when an individual responded to my instruction of getting into their performance groups and refine the material, they devised last week by taking herself out of the practical space and became distracted by objects on a display wall. This being the same session where the women were late to the session by an hour due to an issue within the prison meaning the guards were delayed in opening their cells. This individual made it clear when entering the space that she felt frustrated with waiting around. My immediate response was to try and get that individual back focused in the space, I adopted a sensitive approach as her dismiss to the task could well be the nature of the instruction, she may not have felt comfortable doing the script work so I therefore took an approach from the previous time this happened at the primary school placement and went with the situation as solutions as they came, without fearing about delving away from my original plan.

Experience in relation to teaching

From this module I became aware of the importance of knowing and adapting to the group you are facilitation, this was due to the setting being an all-female prison, therefore it was imperative that as a facilitator I worked in a gender responsive way, this meaning recognizing the women’s personal needs. I may go about introducing a topic or a theme different to how I would to a group of young children or an all-Male based prison To add to this an immediate concern, I had in relation to the community group I was facilitation is the sensitive nature and language I am going to have to be aware of and adapt to when being in the sessions. This is due to many of the women suffering from mental health issues. By this I mean being aware of what can trigger their emotions or flash backs and trying to prevent that from happening, or learning how to deal with this circumstance if it was to arise. This placement was about using theatre as a form of retribution to stop re-offending and allowing one to find their identity. This placement was beneficial in my facilitating journey in terms of education as although not being in a school, the values I apply when teaching were the same, for example: being a committed motivator, an inspiration to the group of Women/pupils as well as creating a mutual respect. On topic of being a facilitator who motivates, one particular moment from this program shows my success in achieving this value through my teaching. One individual responded to my instruction of getting into their performance groups and refine the material they had previously devised by taking herself out of the practical space and became distracted by objects on a display wall. She explained that she isn’t confident with improvisation and performing in front of an audience. However certain weeks she will be fully involved in the task, therefore the problem didn’t lie with building her confidence, but more with making her involved in the activity. I overcame this issue by accommodating to the individuals wishes of not taking on a role by suggesting she adopts the role of director within this group. My ability to offer an alternative role in the space and explain that her wide knowledge on the play would make her a successful director motivated the individual to join in the task. After this suggestion she quickly got on her feet and fully involved in the script work offering successful direction, therefore further developing her drama skills. I would apply this same practice if a similar issue was raised in my PGCE study.