Shakespeare and Prisoners in Confinement Facilities: Cases of Shakespearean Productions by Prisoners of War at Dartmoor and Political Prisoners on Robben Island

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This paper explores Shakespearean productions in prison facilities at Dartmoor in the United Kingdom and Robben Island in South Africa. The account of the relationship between Shakespeare and Dartmoor Prison is based on Simon Mayo’s Mad Blood Stirring (2018). Mayo takes the book’s title from Benvolio’s words, and depicts the production of Romeo and Juliet staged by American prisoners of war captured in the War of 1812. The account of the relationship between Shakespeare and Robben Island Prison is based on Matthew Hahn’s The Robben Island Shakespeare (2017). Hahn takes the book’s title from the so-called Robben Island Shakespeare, a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare which was secretly passed around a group of political prisoners in the mid-1970s. Mayo’s work and Hahn’s illustrate cases of why Shakespeare is chosen to perform in these prisons, and how Shakespearean performance appeals to the prisoners. © 2022 ELLAK

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