Prison theatre

1. Introduction

Version followed: two named programmes, kept separate throughout. (A) Geese Theatre Company UK's offence-focused applied drama, as structured in Baim, Brookes & Mountford (eds), The Geese Theatre Handbook (Waterside Press, 2002; contents list drawn on, chapter text not drawn on), and as recorded in session-by-session detail in Farrall's (2008) doctoral study of the Geese residency The Violent Illusion Trilogy for violent men in prison, plus an early programme description by Geese Programme Director Alun Mountford. (B) Shakespeare Behind Bars (SBB), founded by Curt L. Tofteland at Luther Luckett Correctional Complex, LaGrange, Kentucky (programme created spring 1995; independent non-profit since 2010), as described on SBB's own pages and in Tofteland interviews. [source: Waterside Press; library TOC record; Farrall 2008; Mountford; SBB timeline]

What it is. "Prison theatre" is a family of applied-theatre programmes, not a single therapy with a manual. Neither Geese nor SBB is a regulated psychotherapy; both are theatre companies working inside criminal justice systems, alongside (and sometimes within) prison psychology or offending-behaviour provision. SBB began as a programme within the prison's psychology department. [source: SBB timeline; Waterside Press]

Geese devises issue-based plays and runs workshops, residencies and training in prisons, young offender institutions, probation and youth offending services; its handbook offers more than 100 exercises for offending-behaviour groupworkers, probation officers, prison officers and drama therapists. Change idea: behaviour follows from thoughts and feelings, so offending is treated as a process ("insult to injury") that can be slowed down, examined and interrupted. Masks show the self-protective "front"; lifting the mask exposes the concealed thoughts and feelings underneath; work begins "one step removed" (fictional characters) before moving to the person's own offence. [source: Waterside Press; Farrall 2008; Mountford]
SBB rehearses and performs full Shakespeare plays (and original writing) with long-term ensembles called "circles." Change idea: in a trusting "Circle of Truth", people can move "from who they were when they committed their crime to who they wish to become" (Tofteland); the work is "process driven rather than product driven." Participants often choose roles that echo their own offences and use them to face what they did. [source: JKP interview; SBB mission; CSM 2001]

Professional frame. There is no regulated profession or credential for "prison theatre" as such; Geese workers and SBB facilitators are theatre practitioners. A psychotherapist adapting these methods should hold their own registration (e.g. UK: HCPC-registered drama therapist, member of BADth; US: NADTA Registered Drama Therapist; psychodramatists: ASGPP/ABE certification) [uncertain: registration details] and work under the prison's programme, psychology and security governance. Offence-focused personal-level enactment (walking through a person's own offence) should not be run without training in both drama-based groupwork and offending-behaviour work, and without prison psychology or programme oversight. [synthesis] Clark Baim's Staging the Personal: A Guide to Safe and Ethical Practice (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) offers a safety model (the "Drama Spiral") for personal-material work; its content is not drawn on. [source: Bookshop listing; uncertain on content]

2. Framework

A. Geese Theatre (structure as published and as observed)

Formats. (1) Performance with audience interaction (e.g. Lift Your Mask!, the Handbook's chapter 9; full-mask plays in The Violent Illusion). (2) Multi-day residencies combining performance, workshops and small groups (Farrall observed a Monday-to-Friday residency culminating in the "Corrida" on Friday). (3) Rolling group programmes with probation (Mountford describes a three-year programme for violent men with West Midlands Probation, plus programmes with Hereford & Worcester and Staffordshire). (4) Training for staff. [source: TOC; Farrall 2008; Mountford]
Graded dramatic involvement (Handbook Part II order): games and exercises → "Interactive Observer: the first dramatic involvement" → frozen pictures (static scenes and characters) → role play → performance. Appendix D illustrates moving from work "at one step removed" to "the personal level." [source: TOC]
Session arc (observed and described). Fast physical warm-up → trust exercises → focused exercises on status, power, powerlessness, fear and anger → theatre/mask scene processed with the group → small-group or personal work → written Thinking Report → closing go-round → homework. [source: Mountford; Farrall 2008]
Residency sequence observed by Farrall. Day 1: names and contact games, Two Man Exercise, mask scene replayed and frozen, Thinking Report on a character, small groups (two Geese workers, one or two prison staff, three or four men) walking through a violent incident each man initiated, closing round, Thinking Report homework. Day 2: "Anyone Who…", mimed offence with Fragment Masks, questioning the masked character; "Cues and Triggers" foreshadowed. Final day: the Corrida, "individually crafted challenges" to test and consolidate learning. [source: Farrall 2008; procedure for later days not found]
Movement criteria. Not stated in the sources. Practical criteria: move from one-step-removed to personal level only when a participant can name thoughts and feelings for a fictional character, tolerate group feedback, and has volunteered his own incident. [synthesis] Mountford reports that repeating trust exercises across the course is used to gauge progress. [source: Mountford]
Guidelines for programmes. Appendix B gives guidelines for structuring offending-behaviour programmes using drama, and Appendix A assessment and evaluation forms (not drawn on; do not reproduce). [source: TOC]

B. Shakespeare Behind Bars

Format. A standing ensemble ("circle") produces one play per season. Tofteland described meeting at least twice a week, daily in the final month, sessions of two and a half hours; preparation time ranged from about three to 14 months depending on institutional conditions; the first full run-through often happens at the opening yard performance. Performances are for the prison population, then for invited guests, families and friends. [source: Goodtimes interview; CSM 2001]
Entry. Completely voluntary; at the time of the interview, applicants needed a year of clear conduct; a newcomer approaches a core member, who checks motives and fit; newcomers take smaller roles during a trial period, coached by members; completing one full production earns core membership and the right to sponsor others. [source: Goodtimes interview]
Stages within a season [synthesis from the sources]: building the circle of trust → choosing roles → text and character exploration linking role and self → rehearsal → yard performance → guest performances → reflection. Long-term members become "circle elders" who mentor newer members. [source: JKP interview]
Rites of passage. SBB has used a "matriculation" in which participants share monologues, scenes, original songs and personal pieces with the warden and guests and receive recognition items such as wristbands. Programmes also exist for juveniles and for people after release (Shakespeare BEYOND Bars; "Journeymen" programmes). [source: SBB timeline and site navigation]

3. Guiding principles

Offending is a process, not an event (Geese): slow scenes down and freeze them at decision points so choices become visible. [source: Farrall 2008]
Thoughts and feelings come before behaviour (Mountford's teaching frame): always ask for the thought and the feeling before the action. [source: Farrall 2008]
Masking to unmask (Geese, as Farrall summarises it): use masks to make the protective front visible so it can be named and lifted. [source: Farrall 2008]
Start one step removed (Geese): work with fictional characters first so men can "connect with" thoughts and feelings safely, then move to their own material. [source: Farrall 2008; TOC]
Process every game (Geese): no exercise is just a game; link it back to offending thinking. [source: Farrall 2008; TOC]
Projection through masks (Geese): full masks invite the audience to supply thoughts and feelings, revealing their own; treat what the group projects as material. [source: Farrall 2008]
Choice is always present (Geese): close each scene with the question of what choices anyone had at that moment. [source: Farrall 2008]
Voluntary participation (SBB): the programme is "completely voluntary"; membership is earned and peer-sponsored. [source: Goodtimes interview]
Circle of trust first (SBB): build trust before any inward exploration. [source: JKP interview]
Shared responsibility (SBB): each member takes responsibility for the well-being of everyone in the circle; elders mentor. [source: JKP interview]
Inherent goodness and capacity to change (SBB): goodness "is not negated by their criminal deeds"; hold accountability and hope together. [source: SBB mission]
Accountability for past crimes (SBB): an explicit intended outcome alongside empathy and self-esteem. [source: SBB mission]
"You choose your role, but your role also chooses you" (Tofteland): let participants choose roles and attend to why. [source: CSM 2001]
Process over product (SBB): the performance serves the inward journey, not the reverse. [source: JKP interview]
Trauma is healed in increments (SBB): pace disclosure; people may sit "on the rim" of the circle until ready; SBB uses "Unbearable Truth" in place of "trauma" and addresses shame first. [source: SBB trauma-informed practice]
Social engagement, not recall (SBB): the aim is a state of social engagement in the circle, not making people recount traumatic events. [source: SBB trauma-informed practice]
Understanding is not excusing (SBB): uncovering the roots of behaviour is to move forward, not to blame current acts on past trauma. [source: SBB trauma-informed practice]
Security rules are part of the frame (both): searches, props control and counts are fixed conditions the work is designed around, not obstacles to argue with. [source: CSM 2001; synthesis]
Remember the absent victims [synthesis]: offence-focused drama and public performance must not glamorise offences or expose victims; SBB participants themselves raised concern for victims' families in press coverage. [source: CSM 2001]

4. Intervention inventory

The Handbook contains 100+ exercises; only those whose procedure is described in the sources are given in detail below. Exercise names from the Handbook's chapters that are not drawn on are listed as such. Step wording is a paraphrase or [synthesis] where marked. [source: Waterside Press; TOC]

Part A: Custodial setup, screening and safety (before any enactment)

A1. Screening and contracting

Purpose: select people who can use offence-focused or role-based drama without destabilising; agree the limits of confidentiality before anything is disclosed.
Steps: [synthesis] (1) With prison psychology/programme staff, review current mental state, self-harm and suicide risk record, recent violence, substance withdrawal, cognitive or literacy needs, and any live investigation or appeal (personal-level offence walk-throughs can generate evidence-like statements). (2) Exclude or defer anyone acutely psychotic, in acute crisis, or on an open self-harm/suicide monitoring plan unless the care team agrees and a named contact is available after sessions. (3) Check mix: offence types, gang or wing conflicts, people convicted of sexual offences whose status could be exposed on the wing. (4) Explain participation is voluntary and refusal carries no sanction from you (SBB is "completely voluntary"; ask the prison whether attendance links to sentence-plan progress and say so honestly). (5) State confidentiality limits: what you must pass on (risk to self or others, security threats, undisclosed serious offences as local policy defines, safeguarding of children), to whom, and that group members cannot be bound to confidentiality. (6) Agree group rules: no physical contact without consent, the right to pass, no bringing others' disclosures back to the wing.
Example language (illustrative): "You can say no to any exercise. What you say stays in the room unless it tells me someone is at risk, or it is about prison security; then I have to pass it on, and I'll tell you first if I can."
Watch for: pressure to join for parole credit; participants testing whether rules are real; mixed groups where a disclosure could put someone at risk on the wing.

A2. Security and physical safety

Purpose: keep the work possible inside custodial rules.
Steps: (1) Clear every prop, mask and costume item with security in advance; SBB's wooden swords counted as forbidden items handled only during supervised practice. (2) Expect searches, metal detectors and head counts around performances; SBB audiences entered through checkpoints and left by separate doors from performers, who were strip-searched and counted afterwards. [source: CSM 2001] (3) Agree officer presence: in Geese small groups, one or two prison staff sat in each group with two Geese workers. [source: Farrall 2008] (4) Clear floor space for fast physical warm-ups and blindfold work; spot blindfolded participants. (5) Clean shared masks between wearers; have spare masks for anyone who will not wear a used one. [synthesis]
Watch for: contact games (e.g. Touch Backs involves limited physical contact) escalating into horseplay or settling scores; props that could become weapons; lockdowns or transfers cutting sessions.

Part B: Geese Theatre techniques

B1. Fast physical warm-ups and name games

Purpose: energise, reduce wariness, learn names, begin cohesion. [source: Mountford; Farrall 2008]
Steps: Open each session with a quick, physical game. Farrall records Touch Backs (fast, limited contact), a name game whose only aim was learning names, and "Anyone Who…" (the person in the middle without a chair calls out a statement; everyone it applies to swaps chairs; whoever is left without a chair goes next). Keep rules simple; join in yourself.
Example language (illustrative): "Swap seats if you've ever been somewhere you didn't want to be."
Watch for: statements in "Anyone Who…" that out someone's offence or status; set limits on topics. [synthesis] Working: laughter, people moving freely, names used.

B2. Trust exercises (including blindfold work)

Purpose: build trust and give a repeated measure of progress. [source: Mountford]
Steps: Mountford describes trust exercises repeated through the course, including a blindfold exercise followed by questions about trust and about what participants were thinking. (1) Pair participants; one is blindfolded (or keeps eyes closed), the other guides. (2) Keep it slow and spotted. (3) Swap. (4) Process: who found it hard to trust, who found it hard to be trusted, what went through their minds. [source: Mountford; detailed steps synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "What did you tell yourself about your partner when you couldn't see?"
Watch for: blindfolding can trigger people with histories of assault or restraint; offer eyes-open options. [synthesis]

B3. Status, power, powerlessness, fear and anger exercises

Purpose: after warm-ups, explore the emotional themes behind violence. [source: Mountford]
Steps: Exact exercises not given in the source [uncertain]. Use simple status games played at one step removed, then process as in B4.
Watch for: status play mirroring real wing hierarchies.

B4. Processing games as metaphor

Purpose: link any game to offending thinking. [source: Farrall 2008; Handbook ch. 4 "Processing Techniques"]
Steps: (1) Play a game (Farrall cites Zip Zap Bop, a fast pass-the-signal circle game). (2) Stop and ask what happened when someone made a mistake, how they felt, what they thought, what they did next. (3) Ask where that pattern shows up outside the game. (4) Name the link to offending without forcing it.
Example language (illustrative): "When you got caught out there, what was the first thought? Ever had that thought just before a fight?"
Watch for: over-processing that kills energy; keep it brief early on.

B5. Two Man Exercise

Purpose: show that thoughts and feelings precede behaviour and that choices exist. [source: Farrall 2008]
Steps: (1) Two volunteers stand apart. (2) The facilitator moves them slowly towards each other. (3) At each step the audience voices what each man might be thinking and feeling. (4) Name the sequence: thoughts and feelings, then behaviour. (5) Close by asking what choices anyone has in such a situation.
Example language: Mountford framed it as "THOUGHTS and FEELINGS and then… BEHAVIOUR" (quoted in Farrall). Illustrative: "Stop there. What's he thinking now? And what are his choices?"
Watch for: volunteers feeling exposed; keep the scene fictional. Working: the audience starts to name escalating thoughts unprompted.

B6. Interactive Observer

Purpose: the Handbook's "first dramatic involvement": participants influence a scene from their seats before acting. [source: TOC; uncertain]
Steps: [synthesis consistent with Farrall's observations] Facilitators perform a short scene; the group calls out thoughts, feelings, or what a character should do next; facilitators replay accordingly.
Watch for: participants who only shout "hit him"; ask what that would lead to.

B7. Frozen pictures and the frozen scene replay

Purpose: slow an incident down to examine decision points. [source: Farrall 2008; Handbook ch. 7]
Steps (observed Mirror Scene replay): (1) Replay a performed scene (in Farrall, a masked scene with "Boyfriend 1" and a daughter). (2) Freeze at critical points. (3) At each freeze, the group supplies one thought and one feeling for the character; record them on a flipchart as a Thinking Report. (4) Rate the character's anger on a 1–10 scale. (5) Ask what outcomes and choices were available. Static frozen pictures (participants sculpting still scenes and characters) are the subject of Handbook ch. 7; details are [uncertain].
Example language (illustrative): "Freeze. One thought in his head right now. One feeling. Where is he on the scale?"
Watch for: scenes involving children or domestic abuse can mirror participants' own childhoods; check in individually. [synthesis]

B8. Thinking Report

Purpose: separate thoughts from feelings around an incident and find patterns and points where an alternative response was possible. [source: Mountford; Farrall 2008]
Steps: (1) First complete one for a fictional character as a group. (2) Then each participant completes one for his own incident, written, with prompts for what happened, what he thought, what he felt, at each stage before, during and just after. (3) Staff review it with him to identify patterns and intervention points. (4) Used as overnight homework in residencies. The Geese form itself is not drawn on; use your own layout.
Watch for: literacy limits (offer scribing or drawing); entries that are all "I don't know" or only blame the victim.

B9. Violence as process: escalation and consequences

Purpose: map escalation from small provocation to violence and look at consequences and minimisation. [source: Farrall 2008]
Steps: (1) Using the scene or a Thinking Report, track the anger rating from the first trigger to "ten." (2) List consequences (the group in Farrall named outcomes such as ending up in jail or killing someone). (3) Ask how the character would explain his behaviour afterwards, to surface minimisation and justification.
Example language (illustrative): "How would he tell this story to his mates tomorrow? What would he leave out?"
Watch for: bravado; the group bonding over shared justifications.

B10. Full-mask performance with audience projection

Purpose: present offence-related stories with distance; full masks, based on commedia character masks, invite the audience to project thoughts and feelings. [source: Farrall 2008; Handbook ch. 9 Lift Your Mask!]
Steps: Geese actors perform; the audience is drawn into commentary and questioning; actors are de-roled afterwards (B14). Performing full-mask theatre needs mask-performance training. [synthesis]

B11. Half-mask lifting

Purpose: show the gap between the front and what is concealed. [source: Farrall 2008 citing Handbook p.183]
Steps: (1) A character in a half-mask (speech possible) shows the public front. (2) On a cue, the mask is lifted and the character speaks the hidden vulnerability, thoughts and feelings. (3) The mask is lowered and the scene resumes. (4) Group discusses the difference. Staff described the mask as a front that can come down or be lifted.
Example language (illustrative): "Lift the mask. What's he really feeling?"
Watch for: participants who refuse to lift; allow them to direct an actor instead.

B12. Fragment Masks and the Mimed Offence

Purpose: name the self-protective strategies men use to avoid responsibility. [source: Farrall 2008]
Steps: (1) Set up a wordless scene of an offence (in Farrall, a bar scene with the character "Tony"). (2) Introduce the seven half-masks: Fist, Brick Wall, Mr. Cool, Good Guy, Mouth (or Bullshit), Joker, Poor Me. (3) Participants question Tony about the offence; the actor answers by rapidly switching to whichever mask he would use to avoid the question. (4) Participants learn to recognise each strategy by name. (5) Later, participants identify which masks they themselves use. [step 5 synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "That answer sounded like Poor Me. What would he say if he took that one off?"
Watch for: the group using mask names to ridicule each other; keep naming respectful.

B13. Small-group personal walk-through

Purpose: move from one step removed to the personal level by reconstructing a real incident. [source: Farrall 2008]
Steps: (1) Groups of two facilitators, one or two prison staff and three or four participants. (2) Each man volunteers a violent incident he initiated (not one where he defended himself). (3) The group improvises a three-dimensional walk-through, with others standing in. (4) Freeze at decision points and draw out thoughts and feelings. (5) He completes a Thinking Report for that incident. (6) Overnight homework: further reflection and a Thinking Report.
Safety: [synthesis] Victims are never played realistically as targets of renewed violence; use a chair or stand-in at a distance; stop before the violent act and freeze. Never re-enact sexual offences physically. Confirm the participant consented to this level and knows the confidentiality limits.
Watch for: dissociation, shaking, flat affect, or sudden anger; new disclosures of unconvicted offences (see A1).

B14. De-roling and closing go-round

Purpose: return people to themselves and close. [source: Farrall 2008]
Steps: After performances, Geese actors leave costume and return to be reintroduced by name, de-roled. Sessions closed with each person giving a word or phrase. For participants who played roles: [synthesis] (1) remove masks or costume items physically; (2) say their own name and one way they differ from the character; (3) step out of the playing area; (4) offer a grounding question about the coming hours (meals, phone calls, cell time).
Example language (illustrative): "Take the mask off and put it on the table. Tell us your name, and one thing about you that's nothing like him."

B15. Role play, skills practice and the Corrida

Purpose: rehearse alternative responses and test learning under pressure. [source: Handbook ch. 8 title; Farrall 2008]
What is known: "Cues and Triggers" appears in the residency timetable; the Corrida is the residency's final-day high point, with "individually crafted challenges" to test and consolidate learning. No procedure was found [uncertain].
Steps: [synthesis, general role-rehearsal practice] (1) From the Thinking Report, pick the earliest intervention point. (2) Set up the scene at low intensity. (3) The participant rehearses a new response; others play the provoker at agreed intensity. (4) Raise intensity gradually only with his agreement; stop words in place. (5) Debrief and de-role.
Watch for: challenges escalating into real confrontations; never improvise provocation about someone's real family or offence without prior agreement.

B16. Other named Handbook components (not drawn on)

The Handbook includes sample sessions (Appendix C), a sample session showing one-step-removed and personal-level work (Appendix D), assessment and evaluation forms (Appendix A) and indexes of offending-focused exercises by aim. Consult the book directly; contents not reproduced here. [source: TOC]

Part C: Shakespeare Behind Bars techniques

C1. Peer-sponsored entry and trial period

Purpose: keep the circle voluntary, committed and self-regulating. [source: Goodtimes interview]
Steps: (1) Agree an entry criterion with the prison (SBB required a year of clear conduct at the time). (2) A prospective member approaches a core member, who explores his motives and whether he will contribute. (3) Newcomers take small roles during a trial period, coached by members. (4) Completing a full production earns core membership and the right to sponsor others. (5) Clinician adapting it: add your own A1 screening alongside peer sponsorship. [step 5 synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "Before you join, talk to one of the members about why you want in. They'll tell you what it asks of you."
Watch for: peers gatekeeping on hierarchy or offence type; review exclusions with them.

C2. Building the Circle of Truth

Purpose: establish trust before inward work; the circle is SBB's central structure, described as a sanctuary-like space. [source: JKP interview; SBB mission; SBB trauma-informed practice]
Steps: [synthesis; SBB does not publish a session procedure] (1) Sit in a circle at every session. (2) Open with a brief check-in round (name, how you are arriving). (3) Allow anyone to sit on the "rim" and listen until ready, as SBB's image describes. (4) Members share responsibility for each other's well-being; elders model this. (5) Close with a check-out round.
Example language (illustrative): "You don't have to speak today. Sitting on the edge of the circle is still being in it."
Watch for: the circle becoming a place for confession under peer pressure.

C3. Self-chosen roles

Purpose: let participants approach their own offence and history through a character. [source: CSM 2001]
Steps: (1) Read the play together. (2) Each participant chooses the role he wants; Tofteland reported many chose roles echoing their crimes: "You choose your role, but your role also chooses you." (3) Men also play female roles; double-casting can share heavy roles across nights. (4) Explore privately and in the circle why the role drew him. [step 4 synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "What is it about this character that you want to get to know?"
Watch for: a man choosing a role that closely matches his offence without support to process it; reluctance (one participant initially did not want to play a rapist) should be respected, not overridden. [source: CSM 2001; synthesis]

C4. Character-to-self exploration and truth-telling

Purpose: use the character's choices to face one's own; accountability and empathy. [source: CSM 2001; SBB mission]
Steps: (1) In rehearsal, examine the character's actions, motives and consequences. (2) Invite (do not require) parallels to the actor's life. In the 2001 account, men shared details of their crimes with fellow actors, who offered support; one described rehearsal as "getting down to the truth." (3) Link to the victim's position when the actor is ready (one participant said he thought about his victims while playing a role). (4) Return to the text before ending. [step 4 synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "Proteus decides here. What does he tell himself? Is that a voice you've heard in yourself?"
Watch for: breakdowns during rehearsal (reported in the 2001 account); see section 5.

C5. Ensemble rehearsal schedule and peer coaching

Purpose: commitment, literacy, decision-making and responsibility to the group. [source: Goodtimes interview; SBB mission]
Steps: Meet at least twice weekly for about two and a half hours; daily in the final month; experienced members coach newcomers; Tofteland said he did not teach acting so much as they "become actors."
Watch for: lockdowns stretching the timeline (three to 14 months); plan continuity for transfers and releases. [synthesis]

C6. Performance to the yard, families and guests

Purpose: the public completion of the work and recognition. [source: Goodtimes interview; CSM 2001]
Steps: (1) First full run-through for the prison population. (2) Further performances for invited guests, families and friends, under security procedures (A2). (3) Post-show talk-backs [uncertain: not described in the sources]. (4) De-role and debrief after each performance. [synthesis]
Watch for: media or documentary coverage re-exposing victims' families; one participant asked that coverage avoid further harm to his victim's family. Agree media rules with the prison and participants in advance. [source: CSM 2001; synthesis]

C7. Matriculation and personal pieces

Purpose: a rite of passage marking progress; brings in original writing. [source: SBB timeline]
Steps: Participants present monologues, scenes, original songs and personal pieces to the warden and invited guests and receive a recognition item (SBB has used wristbands). Original writing supports finding one's own words for the "Unbearable Truth." [source: SBB timeline; trauma-informed practice]
Watch for: personal pieces that disclose details of victims or co-defendants; review them beforehand. [synthesis]

C8. Incremental work with the "Unbearable Truth"

Purpose: trauma-informed pacing: address shame first, seek personal language, heal in increments, aim for social engagement rather than recall. [source: SBB trauma-informed practice]
Steps: [synthesis] (1) Do not ask for trauma narratives. (2) When shame shows, slow down and normalise. (3) Offer writing or character work as the route to words. (4) Separate understanding the roots of behaviour from excusing it.
Example language (illustrative): "You don't have to tell the whole thing. What one line would this character say about carrying it?"

Part D: Cross-cutting safety procedures [synthesis unless marked]

D1. Pacing and distance ladder

Steps: Move only one rung at a time: game → fictional scene observed → fictional scene directed from seats → frozen picture → role play as a fictional character → own incident with stand-ins → own incident in role → rehearsal of new responses. Geese's progression and "one step removed" principle underpin this. [source: TOC; Farrall 2008] Drop back a rung when arousal is high.

D2. Victim perspective work

Purpose: build understanding of harm without re-victimising or humiliating participants.
Steps: (1) Start with fictional victims and their likely thoughts and feelings (Thinking Report for the victim character). (2) Only later, and with consent, ask the participant to consider his own victim's experience, without anyone playing that real person. (3) Never use real victims' names, photos or statements in enactments. (4) Any restorative contact with real victims belongs to a separate, specialist restorative justice service. (The Geese Handbook notes its material can be adapted to restorative justice; no procedure is given.) [source: Waterside Press; rest synthesis]
Watch for: performative remorse; overwhelming shame turning to self-harm risk.

D3. End-of-session closure in custody

Steps: (1) De-role (B14). (2) Check-out round. (3) Scan for anyone flat, agitated or tearful; speak to them privately before return to the wing. (4) Tell the named officer or healthcare contact of any concern, per agreement. (5) Remember the person goes back to a cell, possibly alone, with no one to talk to; leave time and don't end on the most intense moment. (6) Record per local policy.

D4. Children and young people

Steps: Geese works in young offender institutions and youth offending teams and SBB runs juvenile programmes. [source: Waterside Press; SBB site navigation] For under-18s: follow child safeguarding and mandatory reporting duties of the jurisdiction; obtain the young person's assent and the required consents through the institution; involve parents or carers when appropriate and safe; shorten activities, use more games and one-step-removed work, avoid personal-level offence re-enactment unless within a supervised specialist programme. [synthesis]

D5. Touch

Steps: Contact games (e.g. Touch Backs) and blindfold guiding involve touch. Ask before, offer a no-touch version, allow opt-out without explanation, and never sexual or genital contact; be alert to histories of assault, restraint and searches. [synthesis]

5. Handling problems

The sources say little about problem handling; nearly all guidance below is [synthesis] unless a source is named.

Bravado, minimising, "I was defending myself." Geese asks each man to choose an incident he initiated, not one where he acted defensively, and asks how a character would "explain" his violence to surface justifications. [source: Farrall 2008] Response: go back one step to a fictional character; use the Fragment Mask names ("that sounds like Mr. Cool") lightly and without ridicule; ask for the thought before the act rather than arguing about facts. [synthesis]
Stuck: "I don't know what I was thinking." Freeze earlier in the scene; offer a menu of thoughts the group has generated; use the 1–10 anger scale to locate the moment; let others stand in so he can watch from outside. [synthesis, building on Farrall 2008]
Resistance from mandated attendance. SBB is entirely voluntary [source: Goodtimes interview]. If your setting links attendance to sentence planning, say so openly, keep exercises opt-in, and treat sitting out ("on the rim") as legitimate participation. [synthesis; rim image from SBB]
Overwhelm or breakdown in role. The 2001 account describes a man breaking down during rehearsal, after which the facilitator asked everyone to continue. [source: CSM 2001] For a clinician: pause the scene; the person steps out of the playing area; remove mask or costume; ground with breath, feet on floor and orientation to the room; offer a choice to stay, watch or leave with a co-facilitator; never push to finish the scene; check in individually before he returns to the wing and inform the agreed contact if risk is raised. [synthesis]
Retraumatisation (participants' own victimisation). Many participants have histories of childhood abuse and violence; scenes of domestic violence or child harm (as in the Geese mask scene) may trigger them. Pre-warn content, keep distance (masks, stand-ins, freezes before violence), and follow SBB's principles: increments, shame first, social engagement rather than recall. [source: SBB trauma-informed practice; rest synthesis] Arrange onward access to prison mental health care.
Dissociation or flat affect after personal-level work. Stop personal-level work for that person; return to games; review readiness with psychology staff. [synthesis]
Self-harm or suicide risk after sessions. Treat the post-session cell period as high-risk for anyone distressed: follow the prison's self-harm/suicide procedures, pass on concern the same day, and do not leave a distressed person without a handover. [synthesis]
New disclosures of unconvicted offences or harm to a child. Stop and remind the person of the confidentiality limits agreed at A1; do not question for detail; report per the prison's policy and safeguarding law; tell the person what you will do. [synthesis]
Security incidents and rules clashes. Comply immediately with officers; stop the exercise; never hide props or bend search rules for the sake of a performance (SBB's swords, searches and counts were part of the frame). [source: CSM 2001; synthesis]
Officer presence inhibiting disclosure. Geese placed one or two prison staff inside small groups. [source: Farrall 2008] Prepare staff as participants rather than observers; agree with them what they will and won't record. [synthesis]
Group dynamics and wing hierarchy. Status exercises can replay real hierarchies; offence types (especially sexual offences) can expose men to risk on the wing. Keep offence details out of whole-group exercises unless the group has agreed otherwise and the prison has assessed the risk. [synthesis]
Reluctance to play a role (victim, perpetrator, other gender). Respect it; offer another role or double-casting; one SBB participant was initially unwilling to play a rapist and later chose to. [source: CSM 2001; synthesis]
Glamorising offences or performance as status. Keep the frame process over product (SBB); end scenes with consequences and choices (Geese). [source: JKP interview; Farrall 2008]
Victims and the public. Do not publicise participants' offences; agree media consent rules; consider how families of victims would experience coverage. [source: CSM 2001; synthesis]
Non-adherence (homework, Thinking Reports). Offer scribing, drawing or verbal reports; complete the first one together in session. [synthesis]
Attrition from transfers, lockdowns and release. Build understudies and double-casting; give each participant a closing conversation even if moved; SBB's post-release programmes illustrate continuity after custody. [source: SBB timeline; synthesis]
Ruptures with the facilitator. Name it in the circle or privately; acknowledge your part; return to agreed rules. [synthesis]
Facilitator vicarious stress. Hearing offence detail repeatedly is wearing; arrange clinical supervision and co-facilitation. [synthesis]

Sources

Sources:

Books cited:

Baim, C., Brookes, S. & Mountford, A. (eds) (2002). The Geese Theatre Handbook: Drama with Offenders and People at Risk. Winchester: Waterside Press. (Contents list only.)
Baim, C. (2021). Staging the Personal: A Guide to Safe and Ethical Practice. Palgrave Macmillan. (Not drawn on.)
Shailor, J. (ed.) Performing New Lives: Prison Theatre. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. [uncertain: year and editorship]

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