Playing for Time Theatre Company performed a new play by Philip Glassborow in April 2011. Soul Traders was performed at West Hill HMP Winchester.

SOUL TRADERS - a hot, contemporary version of the Faust legend, with song and dance and multimedia.

Presented by the award-winning Playing for Time Theatre Company at West Hill HMP Winchester. This year's production in April was a collaboration between the University's Performing Arts Department and LaunchPad Productions. It represented to date, by far the most technically complex show to have been staged in the prison - a mixed-media musical combining live performance and pre-recorded film sequences.

Specially commissioned to be performed by undergraduate students and prisoners, Soul Traders updated the 'Dr. Faustus' story to the twenty-first century. Philip Glassborow's play followed the story of Danny who is studying for 'The Knowledge' in order to become a London taxi driver. He is devoted to his girlfriend and her small child. However, one day there is a knock on his door and his life changes. During the course of the play the concept of a 'soul' is explored in terms of whether it is best to strive to achieve one's goals through hard work and sometimes failure or whether it is possible to take short cuts and achieve status and wealth through less legitimate means.

Soul Traders is a modern morality play which critiques our consumer driven and materialistic society, exploring the potentially tragic consequences of the Money for Nothing! Live now, pay later! culture that dominates so many people's lives. As in previous years, the choice of material for this show reflected a desire to create a project for prisoners and undergraduate students to work on which was both enjoyable and thought provoking. Comedy and music enabled the play to explore serious issues in a light-hearted manner.

THE FAUST LEGEND: The play is based on two sources; Goethe's two part play Faust written in the 19th century and Christopher Marlowe's play The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Dr, Faustus, commonly referred to as Dr. Faustus first performed in 1592. Both of these plays are based on the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil for wealth, power and knowledge.

The Creative Team

This year's production was directed by Bethan Clark who has directed the last two shows and co-directed by Thomas Timms, a third year Drama student. Thomas has performed in two previous prison theatre shows. The work of the 12 participating prisoners was supported by 11 undergraduate students working as actors, mentors and one stage manager. All students helped with aspects of the production including props, costumes and set. The Musical Director was Richard Daniels, former Education Manager of HMP Winchester.

The production saw collaboration between Playing for Time Theatre Company and LaunchPad Productions, graduates of the university. LaunchPad Productions is a professional, independent community film company established in 2005 that, to date, has made over 60 films. They work with charities such as UNICEF and The Children's Society and local authorities and specialise in making documentaries that give a voice to minority groups and communities. They have made films with male and female prisoners and their families as well as working with refugees and asylum seekers, young carers, young parents, the gypsy and traveller community and children in care. The company is passionate about empowering communities through genuine participation in the film-making process. Their latest film Down the Line explore the journey made by families of prisoners and is accompanied by a training toolkit designed for multi-agency professionals who work directly with families of offenders.

The LaunchPad collaboration involved interactive sequences between live performances and pre-filmed sequences, for example a conversation between Mephisto on screen and the hero, Danny Froust just before Mephisto made a spectacular entrance onto the stage. Green screen technology enabled prisoners to appear in a number of different locations such as cafes, graveyards, heaven and hell.

Creative Writing workshops facilitated the development of the script so that the performers could engage with what the playwright had written and develop scenes and dialogue to support the exploration of the parts they were playing.

The script was written by Philip Glassborow who is a writer and director working in radio, theatre and TV. His theatre musicals include 'Kid For Two Farthings' starring Ron Moody (Bridewell Theatre, London)... 'The Mercury Christmas Revue' directed by Julia McKenzie (Jermyn Street Theatre, London)... and 'The Great Big Radio Show' starring Paul Jones (Buxton Opera House; Watermill Theatre, Newbury; The York Theatre, New York).

Philip also produced the TV documentary 'Andy Serkis: Playing Screwtape' for Sky Arts. Alongside Andy Serkis (best-known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings) the 60-minute film features C. S. Lewis's stepson Douglas Gresham, actor Geoffrey Palmer and comedian Milton Jones. Philip's many radio credits include 'Christopher Himself' with David Suchet, Adam Godley and Bernard Cribbins... 'At The Back Of The North Wind' with Juliet Stevenson, Tom Fleming and Joss Ackland... 'The Hiding Place' with Wendy Craig, Alec McCowen and Henry Goodman... 'The Secret Garden' with Joan Plowright, Prunella Scales and Ron Moody... 'Silas Marner' with Michael Williams, Jenny Agutter and Alex Jennings... 'Billy Budd, Sailor' with Edward Woodward, John Woodvine and Scott Neal... and 'Les Miserables' with Brian Blessed, Geoffrey Palmer, Toyah Willcox, Tony Robinson, Timothy West and Leo McKern.

His community theatre credits include 'The Winchester Passion' (2008) which involved a cast and crew of more than 200 people. It was a collaboration involving the University of Winchester, community groups, churches, schools, Winchester Cathedral, BBC Radio Solent, and many other organisations. One professional actor led the company which also included scores of local student and amateur actors, dancers, musicians and 'backstage' staff. It was staged at five outdoor locations throughout the city, and also televised on giant screens, which carried several pre-filmed sequences as well as covering the live event. BBC Radio's coverage of the three-hour event won a broadcasting award.

The producer was Annie McKean MA MBE. This was the 8th production staged by the prison theatre company that she founded in 2003. Playing for Time has won a Koestler Award (Stand or Fall by Brian Woolland 2008) and a MacJannet Prize awarded through the Talloires Network which recognises exceptional student civic engagement initiatives. Annie was awarded an MBE in 2010 for services to Higher Education.

Funding for this show has come from J. Paul Getty Jnr. Foundation, the Higher Education and Innovation Fund and HMP Winchester.

Annie McKean MA MBE
(Artistic Director Playing for Time Theatre Company)
January 2011