Shakespeare in Italian Youth Detention Centers

The chapter explores the presence of Shakespeare workshops in Italian juvenile detention centres, highlighting the lack of comprehensive documentation of the activities carried out in the seventeen IPMs (Istituti Penali Minorili) across Italy. The dissemination of many of these initiatives is often prevented by the right to privacy of the minors involved, and in some cases, it is limited to the local area or to specialist conferences. Thanks to various associations and cooperatives, from Puntozero at the “Beccaria” in Milan to Teatro Kismet OperA at the “Fornelli” in Bari, from the Teatro del “Pratello” in Bologna to the Officina di Teatro Sociale Adynaton at the “Casal del Marmo” in Rome, to name but a few, one can find a lot going on, culturally speaking, inside these institutions. Many prison theatre workshops take their inspiration directly from Shakespeare’s works.