Interweaving male and female dialogues set in the everyday of prison. Written for a cast of two men and three women, Prison Dialogues is both an exploration of the human condition and a journey into dialogue for its own sake when there is nothing left to say.

The work was premiered at Brighton Fringe Festival from 28th May to 3rd June 2021, one of the first live performances in England after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Written & directed by Mark C. Hewitt

with incidental music by Peter Copley

Mark C. Hewitt is the founder and Artistic Director of LLL Productions and is a writer, theatremaker and stage director. As a writer, his café play The Revenge Fantasy Club (2012) was shortlisted in 2013 for the Best New Play Award at Brighton Fringe Festival and toured nationally to café venues. In 2013, he received a grant from the Artist International Development Fund to collaborate with Norwegian sampling percussionist Thomas Strønen, leading to an ambitious full-length work: Civilization and its Discontents: 11 Movements for Theatre. Other stage plays include a translation of a Portuguese theatre monologue, Labyrinth (2019) in collaboration with actress Marta Carvalho. As a stage director, he received a Cultural Leadership Bursary in 2006 to study directing (particularly within the sphere of performed literature) and has since gone on to R&D/direct first performances of over 20 original live literature / theatre productions. Key works include Dementia Diaries (LLL Productions, 2009/11) by poet Maria Jastrzębska (which toured nationally during 2011 supported by a Wellcome Trust Arts Award); Roll Over Atlantic, a one man show by Caribbean/British poet John Agard; Dora vs Picasso, a flamenco theatre production with text by Grace Nichols; and Zones of Avoidance by Maggie Sawkins, which was 2013 winner of The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. A collection of micro-videos made in collaboration with artist Matt Parsons as a visual counterpart to his poem sequence Les Coffrets (2020) has been screened virtually at over 20 international short film festivals in over 15 countries, earning a plethora of laurels and awards. He has collaborated on many public realm visual installations and works frequently on socially engaged projects with marginalised individuals, notably Diving into the Wreck, a multimedia production developed in Portsmouth with addicts in recovery; and Penned Up, a strand of cross-artform literature festivals in prisons, recognised nationally in The Big Issue's list of 'Top 100 Changemakers of 2020'.

"The idea for Prison Dialogues came while I was working with a group of prisoners on a version of David Mamet’s Duck Variations which we were preparing for a performance at one of the Penned Up prison literature festivals in 2017. I noticed that when my group of prisoners were chatting amongst themselves during breaks in rehearsal, their conversation was often as off-the-wall as the text of the play we were working on. So the concept for the piece grew out of that. And as with Mamet's Duck Variations, I wanted the focus to be on everyday inane banter that somehow becomes a metaphor for something deeper. A year later, in 2018, I worked for the first time in a women's prison and was struck by the differences between men and women in jail, which then led to the idea of incorporating alternating male and female dialogues into the play. 

The text of Prison Dialogues was completed mainly during 2019; with the male dialogues written first, for two performers, then the female dialogues a few months later, for three. They had to be done separately and not overlap, at least in the initial stages, because I wanted them somehow to come from a different place and remain distinct."

Mark C. Hewitt, May 2021

(Photo, actresses Leann O'Kasi, Araba Jane & Sarah J. Lewis, working with me on early drafts of the female dialogues at the Actors Centre, London, July 2019)

Cast for first performances of Prison Dialogues at Brighton Fringe Festival, May 28 - June 3, 2021 (in order of appearance):

French: Sonny Jaiteh

Clamp: Connor Mills

Zara: Araba Jane

Lydia: Leann O'Kasi

Gabi: Sarah J. Lewis

Audience Feedback from Brighton Fringe 2021

•  “Loved this stripped-down play from Mark C. Hewitt. The talk, the convos and the wonderings of people banged up and filling time. Truly excellent performances all round.” 
•  “Wonderful writing and performance, captivating changes of pace and moments of stillness, so effective. Moving and totally believable. And funny.”
• “Mesmerising – terrific dramatic tension throughout – never dropped – superb writing and acting throughout – a privilege to have witnessed this show.”
•  “Fantastic – I LOVE minimalist theatre, which requires TIMING … NAILED IT!”
• “10/10! Great acting and really interesting dialogue. We really enjoyed!”
• “An amazingly intimate journey and a different perspective on the trivial day-to-day life in prison. A very believable performance from the actors who really became their characters during the show. Really engaging and entertaining to watch.”
•  “I don’t understand how/why it worked – but it really did!”
• “Very much enjoyed the exploration of distinctive characters and varied but interlinking themes and ideas. Music was also well-written and performed.”“Brilliantly written. Brilliantly acted – very tight and great use of pause and tension. Loved it!”
•  “Refreshing to have real questions asked aloud. Superb acting.”
• “Totally absorbing. I could have listened to the characters for hours – profound, heady and thought-provoking.”
• “From 6 years working in criminal justice, really well-researched in terms of character formation.”“Fantastic dialogue – thought-provoking and funny!”
• “An enjoyable and immersive performance. Great character portrayals.”
• “Loved it. Acting and writing beautiful and authentic. Music was powerful.”
• “Fantastic play. A brilliant melding of philosophy and the harsh truths of prison life.’
• “Absolutely amazing!! Thoroughly enjoyed. Funny and fabulous! That tin of tuna was a coup de grace!"
• “It was brilliant. One of the best pieces of theatre I’ve seen in years. Real/surreal, perceptive and perfectly tuned to the human voice. Mark C. Hewitt deserves real accolades for this wonderful writing.”

With thanks to Penned Up and Arts Council England