Shakespeare behind Bars | Criminals acting Shakespeare. A poignant tale of humanity and redemption.

The Art and Happiness Project

Soul-stirring story alert! 😮 Shakespeare Behind Bars turns high-security prison inmates into Shakespearian actors. Curt L. Tofteland, program founder, tells the story of the power of language and acting to bring out humanity, compassion and redemption.

Shakespeare Behind Bars was the subject of a documentary that premiered at Sundance Film Festival and received no less than eleven film awards from festivals around the world.

Through SBB, Curt goes to high-security prisons and teaches inmates, people who’ve often done seriously unspeakable things, to act. Through the reading, learning, rehearsing and acting process, those men learn to face their past, their crimes but also their own trauma. They learn that vulnerability and compassion are strengths and not weaknesses, they learn to deal with shame, and they learn to help others.

This is a story about what connects us all as humans. There is more in common between us and them than we think.

This is a story about the human character, the search for forgiveness and redemption, the passage of time and how we use it. And of course, it is a story about the transformative power of art, which here is the power of language and words.

Credits:

🙏🏻 Thank you to Gregory "G" for speaking with us on the phone about the experience of being a long-term inmate and a participant in SBB.

👉 Read more about Curt and Shakespeare Behind Bars HERE.

SBB Documentary extracts and Trailer - Here

Hamlet Rap from Illinois Youth Center x Shakespeare Behind Bars - full video and reference here.

Hamlet "To be or not to be" soliloquy by Richard Burton.Listen on spotify.

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Sound Engineering: Raphael Pazoumian 🌷🎧