The Prison Radio Association has collaborated with Clean Break, a theatre company that works in prisons, to produce a brand new original audio drama.
A Proposal for Resisting Darkness was developed by women in HMP Downview, working in partnership with writer Yasmin Joseph. It was directed by Anna Herrmann.
It follows a group of magical women who decide to fight back against Darkness – a mysterious power that eats away at the self-confidence of women.
The play was born from Clean Break’s participation in Inspiring Futures, a research project involving leading criminal justice arts organisations and the University of Cambridge and led by the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance. Their goal is to maximise the impact of arts interventions on the lives of people in the criminal justice system.
Clean Break approached the Prison Radio Association to produce an audio version of the drama, and it is now available to listen to online.
The cast includes several actors who have spent time in prison.
Assistant Producer of this audio drama was Richie Makepeace, who worked on the sound design just weeks after being released from his own prison sentence. Richie is now a member of staff at the Prison Radio Association as a producer on National Prison Radio’s Outside In.
Richie: “It was a really good experience, it’s not something I’ve done before and I’ve always been into learning new skills. I loved sitting in on the recording and seeing how everything came together. I also enjoyed the editing side of things, I would do something like that again in a heartbeat!”
Our particular thanks goes to Audible who allowed us to use their drama studio in Barbican for the recording.
Other contributors:
Cast – Lisa-Marie Ashworth, Shona Babayemi, TerriAnn Cousins, Polly Frame, and Jade Small
Producer (Clean Break) – Maya Ellis
Producer (Prison Radio Association) – Perri Hurley
Assistant Producer (Prison Radio Association) – Richie Makepeace
Executive Producer (Prison Radio Association) – Andrew Wilkie
Clean Break is a women’s only theatre company who utilise the power of theatre to transform the lives of women who have been affected by the criminal justice system.
