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About Selected Shakespearean Productions in Polish Prison Theatre

Summary/Abstract: The text presents experiences of theatre work with Shakespearean repertoire (Shakespearean plays, themes and inspirations) in resocialisation-centre communities. References to the same type of activity in English-speaking countries (in the US, Australia, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland) as well as in Italy and RSA provide a background that enables the author to map out the phenomenon of Polish performances in greater detail. The Shakespeare of Polish prisons, though still a rarity, turns out to be a multifaceted phenomenon varied in terms of theatre aesthetics, dramatic interpretation, modes of work and their goals. The research material on which the article is based consists of the following productions: Hamlet za kratą (‘Hamlet Behind Bars’) directed by Przemysław Pałosz at the Opole Detention Centre in 1994; the Kłodzko „Makbet” według Szekspira (‘Macbeth According to Shakespeare’) directed by Krzysztof Papis at the Po drodze Prison Theatre in 2006; the cycle of Hamlet based performances prepared by Magdalena Zelent at the Gdańsk Przeróbka Penal Institution (Szekspir – product czasowo niedostępny, 2011 [‘Shakespeare – the Product Temporarily Out of Stock’]; Hamlety – duchy ojców, 2012 [‘Hamlets – Ghosts of the Fathers’]; Hamlet. Leitmotiv, 2014); Wroniecka chuliganeria, 2011 (‘Thugs from Wronki’) by the Zniewoleni theatre group from the Wronki Penal Institution, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream directed by Joanna Lewicka by the Zapaleni.org theatre group with the participation of inmates from the Opole Lubelskie Penal Institution (2012). The analysis of particular phenomena reveals a flickering hybrid-form image of Shakespeare through which inmates try to express various existential nuances of being institutionalised and search for new ways of looking at the world.

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