Mettled

Dear Bruce Wall,

I’m at Bullingdon Prison in Oxford.  I saw a letter on the wall of the Education Department advertising the London Shakespeare Workout.  After getting further information on your workshop I decided to come to it.

Your group have previously done these workshops at Bullingdon and for a couple of weeks the talk in the Education Department was about The London Shakespeare Workout.  I thought to myself:   ‘I’ll give it a go’.

I came to the chapel with my friend and immediately had a friendly group of people approach me.   The group introduced themselves to my friend and me.  The group spoke to me as a human being and not as a prisoner. 

They obviously did not see me as a man of crime, but just another man.  I immediately felt welcome.  The atmosphere was very friendly.  Other prisoners were talking and I thought to myself: ‘What are we doing here’?

I see myself as a confident man.  The Workshop started and I felt quite uneasy with role-play.   A few mistakes happened and I was reassured by all members of your group.   Reassurance was very welcome and I began to relax.

I really did enjoy myself and really enjoyed listening to Shakespeare.  The Workshop for me brought self-confidence.  After speaking to my fellow inmates the general opinion was an excellent afternoon enjoyed by all.

The Workout did not only bring confidence out in me, it also taught me about Shakespeare’s work.  I also thought it was a good team building exercise for prisoners.

As I’ve already said, an excellent afternoon enjoyed by all.  I felt welcome by your group who saw us as normal people not as prisoners.  A very big thank you to yourself and all involved with the London Shakespeare Workout.  See you all in the very near future.

Yours sincerely,
Ben