The Hal Company in association with Suzanna Rosenthal Productions presents the world premiere of Penned Up, a new play by award-winning playwright Danusia Iwaszko, on tour this autumn. Drawing on Danusia’s 15 plus years of experience teaching playwriting in prisons, Penned Up offers an unflinching look at life inside.
Think Porridge meets Brassed Off - a laugh riot and a gut-punch in equal measure. Witty, raw and full of heart, Penned Up is a powerful celebration of storytelling, second chances and the unexpected bonds that form behind bars.
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| Danusia Iwaszko. Photo by Rich Lakos |
Welcome to HMP Ditchfield, where every week a group of prisoners are challenged to write their own plays. From boxing rings to the Brazilian rainforest, from painful pasts to wildly imaginative futures, these men discover that theatre is more than words on a page - it’s a lifeline, a way to reclaim their voices. But when creativity clashes with control, tensions rise, secrets unravel, and laughter gives way to rebellion. Can words be the greatest escape?
Penned Up will star Ntabiso Bhebhe, Chris Clarkson, Geir Madland, Heydn McCabe, Shelley McDonald, Ashton Owen, Rebecca Peyton and Liam Watson. The creative team is Writer and Director Danusia Iwaszko, Designer Madeleine Roberts and Lighting Designer Tim Westerman.
Penned Up is produced by The Hal Company CIO in association with Suzanna Rosenthal Productions, who are grateful for the support of Arts Council England, Suffolk County Council, Suffolk Community Foundation, Conservatoire East, Suffolk Town Council, Menagerie Theatre, The Drapers Charitable Trust, The Ridley Godfrey Foundation, St Giles and Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds in association with HighTide and Synergy Theatre Project and thanks to Suzanne Drown and commercial sponsors.
We caught up with writer and director Danusia Iwaskzo ahead of the tour.
What can you tell me about Penned Up?
Penned Up is a play about prisoners who take a playwrighting course and about their (and the guard’s) change and growth over the course. It’s funny and poignant as we get to know more about the guys, who they are and why they’ve ended up in there.
Where did the inspiration for the piece come from?
I was inspired to write it by my 17 years’ experience of teaching playwrighting in prisons and the hundreds of prisoners I’ve got to know. On TV and films I’d see them represented as violent and out of control and people would say to me “they’re evil people” and “lock them up and throw away the key” so I thought I’d share my experience as an answer to that.
I was inspired to write it by my 17 years’ experience of teaching playwrighting in prisons and the hundreds of prisoners I’ve got to know. On TV and films I’d see them represented as violent and out of control and people would say to me “they’re evil people” and “lock them up and throw away the key” so I thought I’d share my experience as an answer to that.
How did you shape your own lived experience into the play the piece has become?
For me it’s all about creating the characters and what they want. So many of the men have been so memorable and the events so moving and funny that I wrote everything down and then shaped the piece up from there.
You've taught playwrighting in prisons for 17 years, how did that first come about for you?
Rob Salmon, a theatre director who was working at The New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich approached me and asked if I’d be interested. I didn’t think it was a good idea when he asked me. Playwrighting is hard, you have to create characters, setting, dialogue, there’s a lot to learn. I thought maybe writing some sort of diary would be better but Synergy Theatre, were looking for a playwright and I needed the work so I thought I’d give it a whirl. I was also apprehensive at first, I’d never been into a prison but after a couple of weeks I loved it.
What has been the biggest creative challenge whilst developing the play?
Balancing the playwrighting teaching with the prisoners’ journeys. It’s hard to have a play about learning to write plays without any teaching but the important thing is the prisoners and their journey. One person said they want to write a play after seeing it!
How has it been seeing the work come to life from the page to the stage?
Wonderful! Plays aren’t meant to be on the page but on the stage. It’s the part I love most, translating the writing to the acting.
How do you balance the roles of writer and director?
When I’m directing I take my writer’s hat off. I work with the actors and technicians to create a play so we’ll cut and change as if I hadn’t written it. It’s an ongoing joke in rehearsals, as we cut and change, that the writer won’t like it but hey, it has to be done.
Can you tell me an interesting fact about the piece?
A lot of the lines are verbatim. At the last prison I taught at when I was trying to encourage the guys to write, one of the prisoners said: “You want us to have this Telly Tubby energy and we’re all depressed murderers.” What a great line! I couldn’t have come up with that. Another interesting fact is their change and growth, again based on fact.
What was the first piece of theatre you remember having a big impact on you?
I don’t come from a family that went to theatre much so my introduction was at school. I used to make up my own plays at primary school, the first being The Crazy Hairdresser, I was bout 6 or 7 and it was about a hairdresser who used to want to shave everybody that came into the salon. Then at secondary school I acted in Little Women and I loved that and also Shakespeare. I loved A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The school also took us to see Shakespeare and I remember seeing Sir John Gielgud in The Tempest and at first I thought it was weird, he said the lines in this very poetic tone, then after a while I just loved it.
How has theatre shaped the landscape of your life?
Since a very early age it’s been all I wanted to do. I lived, slept and breathed it. I worked in TV for a while which was great but hasn’t the thrill of the live experience both for the actors and for the audience. Now as a playwright it’s about communicating with that audience. Telling them a story which I hope makes them think, laugh and cry.
What keeps you inspired?
Having the opportunity to move people and provoke thought and debate.
What would you hope someone takes away from seeing Penned Up?
A good night at the theatre. They enjoyed it and laughed and hopefully were touched by it and made them think about these guys who are out of sight and very often out of mind. I want people to think about how we treat prisoners both for their sake and society’s. If we give them hope and tools for the future they have a chance not to reoffend which is a win for them and society. They’re not monsters, even though some have done monstrous things. Locking them up and throwing away the key is not the way forward.
Penned Up will tour to Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds (10-11 Sept), The Stahl Theatre, Oundle (12 Sept), Greenwich Theatre (13 Sept), New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich (16-17 Sept), The Garage Norwich (18-19 Sept), Sudbury Quay Theatre (20 Sept), The Theatre Chipping Norton (22 Sept), Chelmsford Theatre Studio (23 Sept), Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells (24 Sept) Pavilion Arts Centre, Buxton (25-26 Sept), Grand Theatre Blackpool (29 Sept), South Mill Arts, Bishop’s Stortford (1 Oct), The Alexander Centre Faversham (3 Oct) and Arcola Theatre, London (7-11 October). The show will also tour prisons including HMP Hollesley Bay and HMP Highpoint.
For more information on the Penned Up tour, visit: https://www.thehalcompany.org
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