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THEATRE IN PRISON: THEORY AND PRACTICE. Edited by Michael Balfour. Bristol: Intellect, 2004; pp. xi + 206. $49.95 paper.
Theatre in Prison, an anthology of essays edited by Michael Balfour, discusses an important area of theatre practice outside mainstream theatre studies. This is a topic of personal interest to me, for in the spring of 2004 I had the opportunity to teach an introductory theatre course for a community college in a medium-security prison. This experience prompted me to pick up Michael Balfour's book. However, one does not need to be familiar with theatre in prison systems to find this book inspiring. The book "is a collection of international essays describing the rich diversity of theatre and drama work in prison-related contexts" (1) written by correction officers, theatre practitioners (directors, writers, professors), psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, inmates, and former inmates.
In the introduction, Balfour provides readers with a brief history of prison theatre and various theoretical methodologies, including criminology, from a broad international standpoint. In these seventeen pages, the author justifies the organization of the book and the selection of essays included. He defines theatre in the broadest sense of the term to encompass both theatre in prisons and prisons as theatre. This conceptual framework enables Balfour to compile a provocative range of articles. For example, the first chapter reprints an influential essay originally published in 1973, "A Study...