WCS 2006
Shakespeare Behind Bars | Reviewed by Nicholas Butler

HANK ROGERSON and Jilann Spitzmiller's documentary, Shakespeare Behind Bars, takes place in Luther Tuckett Correctional Complex in Kentucky. It traces a male Shakespeare troupe over the course of a year working on The Bard’s last play The Tempest. The actors are not your usual cast – they are inmates doing time, each with unique criminal backgrounds to identify with and to explore on many levels.

Luther Tuckett Prison was built in 1981 for 485 people and now houses 1100. It focused on rehabilitation through educational and therapeutic programmes, unlike other prisons in Kentucky. Larry Chandler, the warden, views the Shakespeare programme as educational: “It turns a light bulb on in their heads”.

He states proudly, “I am a warden who hates prisons.”

Curt Tofteland directs the troupe. He explains that The Tempest was the perfect play to do for this group at that time. This is their seventh year working together and the succession of plays is a journey. The journey will end for some soon (parole) and is a sort of farewell.

The play is set on an island (an island being a metaphor for prison, with its boundaries). Curt imagines Shakespeare’s appreciation of the prisoners: "people in the theatre back in Elizabethan times were thought of as pickpockets, thieves, rapists and murderers."

Prison life offers an environment quite unlike usual places of rehearsal. Rooms that function for laundry or cleaning are used. Prisoners practice their lines while outside in the fitness yard pumping iron. It can also cause complications. Some are transferred to other prisons or offered parole. One is removed from The Tempest production and is put into solitary confinement. The story is told of one prisoner who was offered parole in the middle of a production a few years ago. He got his parole deferred so he could do the performance.


The prisoners relate the characters and the play to their own lives, feelings and crimes. Hal, who plays Prospero, is doing time for electrocuting his wife.

He tells us about the line, “as you from crimes would pardoned be let your indulgence set me free.”

The greatest thing this prisoner desires is to be redeemed for his crime and to be forgiven by his family. He grew up in a tightly controlled fundamentalist family. Acting enabled him to open up and confront his demons and feelings.

Red plays Prospero’s naïve and virginal daughter Miranda. He is at Luther Luckett for armed robbery and burglary. One line, “sir, are you not my father?” draws on Red’s memories of his own father. He connects deeply with Miranda as both of them were told at age 15 of their father. In his case the father he had never known was white.

One prisoner talks of his “long family history of silence and resentment”. The programme enables the prisoners to talk again, convey and confront their feelings. It is a moving experience observing them talk in a heartfelt way about their past. They become gentle and seem to be enjoying themselves while performing (a direct challenge of the stereotype of prisoners). The film asks questions about forgiveness, rehabilitation and how art transforms people. Should we see them as how they are now or solely for their crimes of the past? How do our own experiences (most of us have been victims of crime) influence how we view these people? There are no easy answers, but plenty to ponder.

Shakespeare Behind Bars ends briefly with the play's first public performance (in proper costume and set designs), and that is the only disappointing aspect of this film. It would have been wonderful to see more of the scenes that were performed in rehearsal; this would have resulted in a greater climax. In any case, a compelling watch.

» Shakespeare Behind Bars @ World Cinema Showcase 2006