Opposite Sides of the Table

Jess is a theatre-artist. In 2018 Jess wanted to create a performance piece in HMPYOI Polmont; Scotland’s national facility for young people aged between 16 - 21 in custody. In order to make this happen she first needed to have a meeting with George. At this time George worked for the Scottish Prison Service as the Head of Offender Outcomes in Polmont. When he first met Jess and heard about the idea of making theatre with a group of young men George was sceptical. He couldn’t see it working and thought (privately) that the project would probably fail. Jess thought that George was a man in a suit that didn’t understand and would almost certainly offer no further support going forward.
Both of them were wrong.

In this chapter Jess and George discuss the journey that they went on together from that first planning meeting to the presentation of a professional theatre performance in HMPYOI Polmont. They discuss the questions they had about each other and their work and the challenges they encountered on the way. They reflect on the major impact of this experience on them as individuals and their feelings on the transformative power of the Arts in prisons in personal and professional ways.