Women, Theatre, Justice:

Hosted by Rachel Conlon, Director of Prison Partnership Project at York St John. 

There were six performances of Sweatbox performed on campus followed by a discussion with the cast, Funke Adeleke, Jade Small and Posy Sterling along with Rachel Conlon, Prof Matthew Reason and the research team. The audience included criminology and theatre students as well as staff from women’s services in Leeds. In addition to a rich reflection about the social and political implications of women’s incarceration, there was also a sharing of creative writing, written by women in HMP New Hall, read by students from the Prison Partnership Project. This raised many questions about audiences, empathy, affect, activism and care.