Key Change - a job well done

I've been to Newcastle twice today.

I took Mum to see the hand surgeon to review his handiwork from the 2 operations he did over the last year. He is happy that she can straighten her fingers and agrees that further surgery is best avoided.

We were in and out in about 4 minutes and that was 10 minutes ahead of the appointment time. He did have time to say that he had seen some of my work in an exhibition in Bellingham this year, so that was rather nice.

This afternoon I mounted prints ready for a short exhibition of work by the North Tyne Photography Group, to coincide with late night shopping and general Christmas jollities in Bellingham next Wednesday.

Tonight I returned to the city to see Key Change, a play a the Live Theatre. Open Clasp Theatre Company is a women's company that works with women on the edge. This play emerged from workshops they did with women in Low Newton Prison and includes characters whose stories are built on the lives of some of the women there.

The play has been performed in a number of men's prisons and in the Houses of Parliament and in New York, as well as lots of UK venues.

There is a strong political agenda, viz there is no sense in imprisoning women for non-violent crimes. There were many layers to this play and I was impressed.

Many years ago I used to do a clinic in Low Newton, when it was a remand prison for young men. My job was to do psychiatric assessments and to sort out who was genuinely ill from the ones who wanted medication to sell. It was not an easy task.

In my image you can see the end of the post-show discussion. The entire cast of 4 actors are on stage with the stage manager, the writer and director, one of the prisoners who is now free and the signer. The one man was there to introduce them and facilitate the discussion.

I was remembering incidents from my own experiences at the prison and my realisation that staff hardened themselves so as not to be affected by the terrible life experiences that had molded the inmates.  Perhaps, I thought, some drama workshops for staff could be good. Cheryl, the ex-offender, believes that her involvement with the project is what enabled her to move on positively with her life (unlike years of counselling - that was "useless" to her!)

Plenty of food for thought.

PS For a while I thought I would miss the play because the traffic was so intense in the quayside area. As a last resort, I drove to the theatre and was amazed to find a space outside. How lucky was that?