Shakespearean Drama as a vehicle to to engage with minor offenders

The paper addresses the present state of affairs regarding drama workshops in prison (in particular of Prison Shakespeare) in Italy and then focus on a particular theatre project, “La Statale al BeKKa”. This workshop, focusing on a different Shakespeare play each time, in-volves a group of university students along with young men from Milan’s Juvenile Detention Institute “Cesare Beccaria”. This case study shows how Prison Shakespeare is relevant not only for the inmates/actors but also for our students. As a matter of fact, on-stage, inmates and students learn to unpick the commonplaces of prison, a place which constantly reminds you of who you are. What is more the attendees learn to understand their potential, and enjoy an opportunity to experience change. Indeed the issue of “metamorphosis”, which is at the core of many Shakespeare plays, works as a powerful metaphor for the process inmates/actors and students/actors undergo with each workshop. The activities the participants take part in, like writing and adapt-ing a Shakespeare play, rehearsing roles that are very different from their experience in real life, and performing these devised plays onstage before an audience, improve their self-confidence and self-esteem, as well as inviting them to imagine new selves beyond the walls of the prison.