Women's prison theatre visit gave 'real insight'

An amateur theatre company have said taking its play about female prisoners into an all-women's prison gave them "real insight" into the lives of inmates.

Woking Amateur Operatic Society and Musical Theatre group is to perform the musical Bad Girls, based on the ITV drama set inside a fictional women's prison, in May.

Ahead of the show, cast and crew members visited HMP Send to speak to prisoners and perform numbers from the musical.

Andrew Culley, who is co-directing the show with his wife Emma, said: "We wanted to dig a little bit deeper into what actually happens in a women's prison and get a little bit behind the story to find out more about what actually life is like."

Culley added: "It gave the cast a real insight into what it was actually like, going beyond the stereotypical prison life that you see in snapshots on TV shows."

He said that the cast met with about 20 prisoners from HMP Send, which has operated as a women's prison since 1998.

The group spoke to prisoners to hear more about their lives inside the prison, as well as answering questions from inmates about the production.

The musical in Woking comes amid a history of women's prisons in the town, with Woking Female Convict Prison becoming the UK's first purpose-built site for female prisoners in 1869.

The site was closed in 1895 due to a drop in the female prison population and was later used as a military hospital during World War One.

A small number of prisoners at the prison were also involved in creating mosaic floor works, some of which have been preserved and can be found in St Paul's Cathedral and the V&A Museum.

The group will perform at the Rhoda McGraw Theatre in Woking from Tuesday, 5 May, to Saturday, 9 May.

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