Life Imitates Art At Playhouse

To coincide with the production of Our Country's Good at the Liverpool Playhouse there will be a pre-show rehearsed reading of a new short play by Big House Arts. The event is part of a creative exchange, a partnership between Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and Big House Arts, who are based in Walton Prison. The Dover Cliff Dweller is directed by Tracy Aston and performed by actors Paul Duckworth (Unprotected, Urban Legend) and Carl Cockram (Noah's Ark, The House That Jack Built).

'I've been living on these cliffs for thirty years; I know the people who come up here, seasonal walkers, day trippers, sightseers, "¦.but I don't see many suits.'

The Prison Exchange project is an opportunity to create links between the work that is happening on either side of the prison walls. The first part of the exchange is the rehearsed reading of The Dover Cliff Dweller. This 20 minute play has been written by long-term prisoner Griff and Delia Brady-Jacobs, manager of Big House Arts. The second part of the exchange will see Our Country's Good Director Edward Dick and members of the cast visit Walton Prison to work with the prisoners in a session based around the themes and characters of the play.

Timberlake Wertenbaker's award-winning modern classic, Our Country's Good is set in Australia in a penal colony in 1789 and based on historical records. This tribute to the transforming power of theatre sees convicts and Officers unite as they present their production of Robert Farquhar's play, The Recruiting Officer.

For over 10 years Big House Arts has been working to promote media and performance arts in prison settings. Previous projects have included collaborations with the Windows Project, and creating new work for Liverpool Writing on the Wall Festival. -- www.everymanplayhouse.com