Shakespeare Behind Bars Documentary

DocumentaryMix.com Summary: Shakespeare Behind Bars follows an acting group performing plays from prison. Inmates incarcerated at Kentucky’s Luther Luckett prison perform a full production of Shakespeare’s great last play – The Tempest.

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Documentary Description: In Hank Rogerson’s revelatory trip into and around this prison production, we embark on a year-long journey with the Shakespeare Behind Bars theatre troupe. Led by Shakespearean volunteer director Curt Tofteland, whose innovative work with Luther Luckett inmates began in the mid-1990s, the prisoners cast themselves in roles reflecting their personal history and fate. Their individual stories, including information about their heinous crimes, are interwoven with the plot of The Tempest as the inmates delve deeply into the characters they portray while confronting their personal demons.

SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS is a tremendously moving film, where the protagonists are not merely defined by their crimes but are afforded dignity and a fresh chance to look truth in the eye, and embrace it.

2 Comments

1. L Lusary says:

   August 14, 2010 at 10:25 pm

   An excellent documentary by the BBC

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2. Seth says:

   August 15, 2010 at 7:06 am

   It really is an amazing story.

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