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★★★
Danusia Iwaszko’s new play ‘Penned Up’ is currently touring the UK and is based on her 15 years teaching playwriting in prisons. Intrigued by the subject matter and the idea that the writing is based on real-life experiences, on Friday night I had the opportunity to watch the show at the Alexander Centre in Faversham and share my thoughts on this play, which is described as ‘Porridge meets Brassed Off’.
Subject matter and themes
‘Penned Up’ takes place at the fictional HMP Ditchfield, where a group of prisoners visit the educational wing for some playwriting workshops with teacher Dorota (Rebecca Peyton). Over a series of weeks, they follow Dorota’s teaching methods and start creating their own plays, based on their own experiences and current feelings. It is a play with a lot of heart, that sees the prisoners focus on a new skill, against the backdrop of their current circumstances.
It also features some really important themes, surrounding rehabilitation and second chances, but in its current form this ensemble piece lacks depth. The focus is on Dorota’s weekly teaching sessions and the art of playwriting, with the audience having limited opportunity to get to know the prisoners themselves. It is difficult to really believe in their emotions and sudden outbursts, without this extra detail and you find yourself wanting to know more about the people behind these new plays. That being said, perhaps the underlying point of the writing is that it shouldn’t matter what their stories are; it’s about giving them a second chance through this course.
Length and pacing
The play is also quite long, at 2 hours 10 minutes with an interval. In each scene Dorota goes through a series of questions which form the lessons for the playwriting. If anything, the focus on the teaching methods makes the pacing a little slow. There are moments where the prisoners showcase their emotions or Dorota has valuable one-on-one conversations with them, and this is where I would like to have seen the focus shifted. There was so much power and feeling in these discussions, which could be an opportunity for further exploration.
Final thoughts
There is lots to like about this play, particularly its underlying messages and the wonderful bonds between Dorota and the students, but there was so much more I wanted to find out about the people of HMP Ditchfield. I also think this would work slightly better as a one act 90-minute piece, with less of a focus on the teaching methods and more on the interactions between the characters. The last stop of the ‘Penned Up’ tour is the Arcola Theatre in London this week. Tickets for the final performances can be purchased via the venue’s website.
*My ticket for ‘Penned Up’ was gifted in exchange for an unbiased review.
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