Shakespeare in Prison is seeking a publisher for…
RICHARD III—IN PRISON: A Groundbreaking New Book
For the past 300 years, there has been ongoing dialogue—and many critical editions—about the works of William Shakespeare. This discourse, though, has been largely confined to the upper echelons of society; as such, Shakespeare’s work has been made to feel distant and inaccessible for most people.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Want more details? We’ve got you covered! Check out this April 2021 update on the project.
RICHARD III—IN PRISON is the first critical edition of a Shakespeare play written by incarcerated people. It is based on hundreds of hours spent discussing Shakespeare’s iconic Richard III with currently and formerly incarcerated women. Like all critical editions of Shakespeare, it provides insight and perspective on Shakespeare’s text. Uniquely, it also invites readers inside the SIP ensemble, to join us in wrestling with the play’s language, themes, and meaning.
Supported by a grant from Michigan Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and with an advisory council of prison theatre practitioners and Shakespeare scholars, we spent more than two years generating, compiling, and editing this manuscript.
In 2016 and 2017, the SIP ensemble spent 45 weeks exploring Richard III, from first reading to performance. Two years later, in 2019, we regrouped with eight of those women to re-read and discuss the play over ten months. From these conversations, we have pulled analysis and commentary on the text.
Readers will find, alongside the text of Shakespeare’s iconic Richard III, an abundance of notes, essays, artwork, and reflections on the text and performance—all composed entirely by members of SIP’s ensemble. These materials will serve to make Shakespeare’s text more accessible and to make the experience of reading it richer, giving readers access to the thoughts and experiences of the women who contributed.
Amidst a movement to “decolonize Shakespeare” that has reverberated across the English-speaking world, RICHARD III—IN PRISON offers an opportunity to uplift the voices of incarcerated people speaking on Shakespeare. The book explicitly centers the experiences and words of marginalized people without exoticizing or exploiting them. It is not “about” prison or the people locked up there, filtered through a narrator—it gives direct access to them, in their own words. It presents the contributors’ ideas for what they are: valuable contributions to Shakespeare scholarship and an exciting way to introduce new readers to Shakespeare’s work.
Shakespeare in Prison’s whole endeavor is premised on the idea that the thoughts and words of incarcerated people matter, that they deserve to be heard. RICHARD III—IN PRISON is a natural extension of that belief, and it empowers us to add the voices of our ensemble members—so often overlooked and silenced—to the centuries-long dialogue about Shakespeare.
Shakespeare is for everyone, as our ensembles have proven again and again. By asserting that these ensemble members’ stories and perspectives are as significant as any other, this project takes a battering ram to the barriers people perceive, not only to Shakespeare, but between themselves and humanity.
Check out our original concept video, to the left!
We also documented the development process—mostly with video—providing public access to our unique approach. Those videos are below! They’re very entertaining, if we do say so ourselves.
Chapter One
I Still Agree With Myself Back Then.
What did we think about Anne and Richard in 2017? What do we think about them now? Keep track of these themes—they’re gonna keep popping up. As will the bad jokes. Sorry…
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Cuts and Cuts and Cuts and Cuts and Cuts.
When you’re editing a Shakespeare play for a 90-minute performance… how do you do it? And why?
It’s So Simple. It’s Self-Preservation.
Two Murderers, the doomed Duke of Clarence… and questions of conscience and survival. What are we willing to do to get by? How do we feel about it later?
Low Hanging Fruit.
Act II, scene iii. Is it the low hanging fruit that can easily go? Or is there more going on here than we thought at the time?
Chapter Five
Arrogance or Naiveté?
About Buckingham… Richard’s sidekick? Mastermind? What makes him think Richard won’t turn on him the way he turns on everyone else?
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
He Might Not Be Playing Chess…
Oh, poor, unknowing Hastings! What's going on with this guy? Have we kind of had this conversation before?
Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda.
Hastings meets his demise in Act III, scene iv—and we’re left to wonder, again, why he didn’t see this coming. And even if he had… are there any good choices when dealing with a person like Richard III? Or is it truly all about survival?
Women in Prison Have to Think Like That.
Buckingham knows too much. Richard has to get rid of him. But how do you know when it's time to cut someone loose? How—and why—do you do it?
Chapter Nine
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Original Film
We Can’t Say That We Don’t See This.
Act III, scene vi, belongs to the nameless Scrivener. We didn't plan on spending nearly two hours discussing this short soliloquy, but sometimes that's just how we roll. Powerlessness, politics, prison... we found all that and more in just 14 lines of text.
There’s a Lot of Hurt Feelings There.
What can we learn about Richard from his interactions with women—specifically his mother? Has she always treated him with this kind of venom? If so, how might that have shaped him? If not... what could that tell us about him?
There Has to Be a Better Way.
In the end, does Richard get what he deserves? Is that the right question to ask? If we believe that those who've done heinous things can do the work to make a change—and we do—what does it take to make that happen? What would restorative justice look like for Richard?
Think On Me: The Ghosts of RICHARD
SIP Alumnae adapted this scene from KING RICHARD III as reimagined by the 2016-17 Women’s Ensemble.
This project is made possible in part by a grant from Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or Michigan Humanities Council.
We are enormously grateful for their support.
