An Interview with Stratis Panourios

Stratis Panourios (later as SP): Let me start by indicating some thoughts and questions that I noted in my Director’s Notebook, before selecting the field of Shakespeare (and his The Tempest later) for the workshop material. I already knew the power of Shakespeare’s texts in the reintegration of prisoners since I’ve had seen that they have been used in other prisons for many years. So, I started with some research questions: How can theatre be done in prisons? Why do we want theatre to become a thing in a prison? Can a theatrical group be created in prisons? Can team members without previous experience perform a classic text? Why Shakespeare in prison? In what area of the prison could such a demanding theatrical project be performed? How many performances would we give? To what spectators? What would be the translation of the work? Who would play the role of Miranda? What if she was a professional young actress? How could this be supported by the National Theatre? Who would be the costume designer, the set designer? When would we start and when would we end? Those were the questions that were being gradually answered over eight months. I knew very well that if I asked any colleague, actor or director, if they could stage The Tempest with a group of prisoners who had never worked professionally in the theatre in about one hundred and eighty hours of rehearsals,