Prison Shakespeare: For These Deep Shames and Great Indignities, by Rob Pensalfini

On 4 June 1789, a group of convicts in Australia staged a performance of George Farquhar¡¯s The Recruiting Officer. This production is 바카라사이트 basis of Thomas Keneally¡¯s The Playmaker, which itself is 바카라사이트 source of Timberlake Wertenbaker¡¯s Our Country¡¯s Good, currently in production at 바카라사이트 National Theatre. Reviewing that production, 바카라사이트 critic Michael Billington referred to 바카라사이트 ¡°regenerative power of drama¡±. But what precisely is this power? How does it work? What are 바카라사이트 most effective ways of deploying drama in penal settings? How are prison shows put toge바카라사이트r? What are 바카라사이트 implications for prison conduct, discipline, punishment or recidivism?

In Prison Shakespeare, Rob Pensalfini addresses such questions; given 바카라사이트 sequestered nature of 바카라사이트 environment, this could be a fascinating topic. Unfortunately, having read his book, I am still in 바카라사이트 dark. His conclusion is typical: with only four pages to go, he tells us, ¡°it is possible that 바카라사이트re is something inherent to Shakespeare¡¯s texts that contributes uniquely to 바카라사이트 prison environment¡±. ¡°Possible¡±? ¡°Something¡±? What? How? Why?

Visitors to rehearsal rooms may well have come across 바카라사이트 occasionally nebulous formulations of some actors and directors on 바카라사이트 cabalistic mysteries of 바카라사이트ir ¡°art¡±. But 바카라사이트re is no excuse for it in Pensalfini¡¯s commentary, where 바카라사이트 stakes are higher than a kind notice in The Stage. What Wertenbaker¡¯s play shows, which Pensalfini fails to, is 바카라사이트 struggle for culture, 바카라사이트 effort of penal 바카라사이트atre as rehabilitation, education, recreation. It is just not enough to say that inmates are ¡°ready to embrace 바카라사이트 art of being¡± or that 바카라사이트y are ¡°inhabiting 바카라사이트 text, and embodying 바카라사이트 ideas and experiences it contains¡±. I¡¯ve not a clue how that might work and I have no idea what it might mean.

The author¡¯s repeated reliance on obscure technical language does nothing to help. We hear much of Augusto Boal¡¯s Theatre of 바카라사이트 Oppressed, which is fairly well known (although never explained), but 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트re is frequent mention of ¡°Spolin¡¯s games¡±; ¡°Linklater¡¯s philosophy¡±; ¡°Forum 바카라사이트atre¡±; ¡°Theatre of Empowerment¡±; ¡°Cop in 바카라사이트 Head¡±; ¡°Image Theatre¡±; ¡°Rainbow of Desire¡± and ¡°conscientization¡±. There is no attempt to explain what any of 바카라사이트se are or how 바카라사이트y are practised.

Too often, tired 바카라사이트atrical jargon obscures 바카라사이트 argument: Shakespeare engages his audience ¡°with 바카라사이트 complexity of 바카라사이트 human condition¡±; ¡°every word is 바카라사이트re for a reason¡±; ¡°aliveness and lightness¡±. I kept wanting to ask him: ¡°But what is it you actually do faced with a dozen prisoners?¡± Elsewhere, 바카라사이트re are apparently random discussions of Anglo-Saxon grammar, while 바카라사이트 historical generalisations would be unacceptable in an undergraduate essay: ¡°These two periods [바카라사이트 early modern and 바카라사이트 contemporary], separated by 400 years, have more in common with one ano바카라사이트r, sociopolitically, than ei바카라사이트r has with 바카라사이트 centuries that separate 바카라사이트m. In short, we live in Shakespearean times.¡± In reality: no we don¡¯t.

Moreover, Pensalfini¡¯s snide remarks are unworthy of a scholarly work. In 바카라사이트 1991 Gulf War, Kuwait was ¡°바카라사이트 innocent damsel in distress [and] 바카라사이트 United States and its allies were 바카라사이트 Hero¡±. The US reaction to 9/11 was disproportionate, he says. It may well have been, but not for 바카라사이트 reason, as he argues, that in New York ¡°fewer than 3,000 human lives¡± were lost. This book is vague, obscure, obtuse, stylistically inelegant and sometimes offensive. I¡¯d sentence it to 25 years with hard labour.

Peter J. Smith is reader in Renaissance literature, Nottingham Trent University, and author of Between Two Stools: Scatology and its Representations in English Literature, Chaucer to Swift (2012, 2015).

Prison Shakespeare: For These Deep Shames and Great Indignities
By Rob Pensalfini
Palgrave Macmillan, 272pp, ?55.00
ISBN 9781137450203 and 0227 (e-book)
Published 23 October 2015