News
As part of the Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award, Prisoners, Medical Care and Entitlement to Health in England and Ireland, 1850-2000 research project at the Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland, UCD are commissioning a collaborative theatre project between UCD and acclaimed Irish theatre company Brokentalkers. The company will work in partnership with Mountjoy Prison and PACE, a community based re-integration programme, to create a theatre production exploring healthcare provision in prison.
Brokentalkers have extensive experience working with a range of communities in the participatory arts sector. They devise accessible socially relevant theatre that responds to contemporary issues. For example, their award-winning production The Blue Boy deals with the experiences of men and women who were incarcerated as children in Catholic residential care institutions.
Brokentalkers will work directly with historical archival material, and research produced by UCD researchers to inform the new production. They will also collaborate with people currently in prison and those nearing the end of their sentence on day release, to capture their authentic voices to co-write material for the production. Interviews will be carried out with various professionals working in the criminal justice area to inform the work. These voices will be juxtaposed with the historical material to produce a unique theatrical narrative exploring healthcare provision in Irish prisons over time.
