Previous

every story starts with a sentence...

Previous focuses on three men in a prison cell and the stories they tell each other about their lives. It explores the impact that telling these stories has on each of the men and how their stories, or their versions of them, sometimes conflict with reality. The men, often unwittingly, challenge each other’s perceptions of the roles they have played in their lives and the impact this has had on the people close to them.

The play explores what it means to play roles like ‘offender’, ‘prisoner’, ‘user’ and ‘aggressor’ and how these inevitably clash with other roles like those of ‘father’ or ‘partner’. The piece ends with moments of choice for the three men and invites the audience to contemplate how they might use their time inside in preparation for potential new roles outside.

Previous' key themes are:

Previous is suitable for an audience of up to sixty adult male offenders.  Those with families or who have substance misuse issues may find it particularly pertinent.

Previous can be delivered as a ‘stand alone’ performance or can be accompanied by an active drama-based workshop, in which the above themes can be further explored with up to twelve men.

'I thought they were bang on with the characters - the druggie, the angry geezer and the one telling the stories.'

'Every wing of every jail has a loser like that who won't shut up with his stories.'  

''The actors nailed the minutiae of prisoner behaviour - the obsessive tidying of a cell, a hand tucked oddly into a t-shirt, the cell toilet doubling as a seat for guests. Many of the prisoners recognised their own idiosyncratic traits.'

'There were some hilarious points in between seriously heavy moments. Geese's research has thrown up some memorable prison anecdotes which were woven cleverly into the fabric of the play.'

'It worked on so many different levels and it was interesting to see different prisoner interpretations.'  

Audience members, staff and prisoners, HMP Birmingham