Prison Theatre: Practices and Perspectives

by James Thompson

Prison Theatre describes the rich variety of programmes of theatre with offenders. This multi-disciplinary volume informs debates both in the criminal justice system and in discussion about the role and function of theatre. The contributors explore a wide range of topics within this diverse field,
- working with women prisoners and with people with learning difficulties
- dramatherapy with violent offenders
- prison theatre work in Brazil
- theatre work with young offenders
- dramatic intervention in probation services and with ex-offenders. This is a stimulating and thought-provoking book which will provide valuable reading for practitioners, professionals and students across the fields of the arts therapies, criminology and criminal justice, psychology and performing arts.

248 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

James Thompson is the Project Director of In Place of War and a Professor of Applied and Social Theatre in the Department of Drama at the University of Manchester.

In Place of War came out of his work in Sri Lanka, where in 2000 he was invited by UNICEF to run training courses for practitioners working with young people affected by conflict. During these sessions, James was impressed by the extensive use of theatre in response to the 20 year long civil war, which in turn, led to many of the research questions addressed by In Place of War.

James specialises in performance in conflict and disaster zones, theatre with offenders, theatre and development and Sri Lankan theatre. He has documented theatre practice in Sri Lanka, Democratic Republic of Congo, Banda Aceh and the UK.