William Head Correctional Centre has been providing the island with imaginative live theatre for almost 40 years, but Hatched, put on by William Head on Stage (WHoS), might just be giving people the most intimate look inside the performers’ lives yet. WHoS project lead and director Kate Rubin has been working with WHoS for almost 20 years, and is excited and just a touch sentimental about this year’s show.
“When we finally got back to creating shows again, after COVID, the question I go over with the men initially is, what do we want to do a play about?” says Rubin. “We always do our very best to just follow their lead, the men, and there was a suggestion to look at the beginnings of a script that a formerly incarcerated person had written. It involved something an admin person had actually suggested, which was to do a play within a play. It’s about, really, a play about the WHoS men producing a play.”
Rubin says that the former inmate had started to write a script, but was then released.
“The men were inspired by the thought of a kind of behind-the-scenes thing,” says Rubin. “They liked the idea that the audience could learn a bit about what it’s like to be inside a prison doing theatre. That was their choice, and we have been working on it since June. It’s really interesting, and different than anything that we’ve ever done before.”
Rubin says that this performance may give a closer look to the feelings of the inmates in William Head.
“The writing that they’ve always done comes from their own experiences,” says Rubin. “Even when it’s creating fictional characters and fictional storylines, it’s still drawing from their experiences, because, well, that’s powerful. The difference with this production is that they’re playing themselves. I mean, they’re not using their real names, there are pseudonyms, but still, you’re going to get more verbatim stories and perspectives from these individuals directly; they’re not playing a fictionalized character. In a sense there may be some more direct emotion in this piece, because you know that they’re writing about themselves.”
Rubin also says that the writing process itself can be challenging, but very rewarding.
“We are working with a line where we can write about some things, not write about other things,” says Rubin. “Sometimes it can be too close to the bone, trying to figure out what is okay for an audience to see, to experience, to hear. How do we support [the performers] with what they’re going to say? We have to make sure everybody feels safe, feels comfortable in anything that they are going to write, to express. The highlights of this process is that when all is decided, and really committed to, then it can be really powerful—and hilarious. There can be some really funny parts to this whole process, as there always is, but just this time it’s coming out in another form.”
Rubin is looking forward to the impact this production could have.
“I’m excited to be able to witness the interface between the audience and the men,” says Rubin. “To be watching this and be able to see a little bit about the inside world, because the men are going to be sharing a lot of things that I think the audience might not know. Just little things that you only learn by working, or volunteering, or being inside a correctional institution. I am always excited to see audiences be impacted, but I am excited this year to see how this form is impactful for everyone, and for the men to be able to share their own personal experiences.”
Hatched
Various times and days
Friday, October 11 to Saturday, November 2
$35, William Head Institution
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