| Putting Caesar in Prison Alice Krige & director Paul Schoolman have been running drama workshops with both prisoners and prison officers in three Welsh prisons, in preparation for filming a movie about the early life of Julius Caesar. NESTA's support enabled Alice, Paul and a number of actors and drama specialists to conduct four weeks of workshops with the prisoners and prison officers who will perform in the feature film. Alice & Paul first began drama workshops in prisons in the mid-1980's - "when hardly anyone else was doing work of that sort," says Alice. Paul wanted to make a feature film about the early life of Julius Caesar, performed by prisoners and prison officers. He knocked endlessly on Home Office doors until he was eventually given permission to go into Dartmoor Prison. "He just had a gut feeling that the people who would best understand what he wanted to say would be men in prison," says Alice. "He thought that the power of Ceasar's experience would resonate with them." The young Caesar was seen as 'a loser' - a bisexual man in what Alice describes as "a stoically heterosexual city", someone heavily in debt, an epileptic, and a member of a family whose star was on the wane. The young Julius Caesar was seen as a complete failure by his peers and elders before he became Emperor. This random, surprising fact - stumbled across during research - stayed with director Paul Schoolman, and intrigued him. So much so that he set about learning more of the adolescent Ceasar's life, even writing a play and staging it at the Edinburgh Festival (Scotland). But what he really wanted was to turn the story of Caesar's rise from loser to leader into a movie. Not the average historical drama, however, but a story set and filmed in a prison. Now, with NESTA and other bodies behind him, that long cherished dream is soon to becom reality. "In the play we follow Caesar's struggle to become himself agains all odds, tracing him fighting his way to power," explains Alice. "So many prisoners are perceived as losers, like him, but they all have their own dreams and passions too. Paul felt the discrepancy between how prisoners are perceived socially and how they see themselves would give them an understanding of the position Caesar was in. They, like he, are outside the accepted norms." The initial workshops yielded benefits - including two other screen plays, one written by an inmate. But although Paul & Alice came close to securing funding, the film project didn't get sufficient backing and was put on the back burner. Two years ago, Alice & Paul decided to try again, and approached John May, who had been governor at Dartmoor in the 1980s. "He's a man with the most remarkable ideas about the potential for human growth within the prison experience," says Alice. Mr. May had now become head of the prison service in Wales, and suggested they take the project there. The wing at Dartmoor where they had hoped to film was no longer available, so they agreed. It was the right decision. "Going to Wales has been a great blessing," says Alice. "The prison service has been extraordinary in its support, as have the prisoners and warders." They started holding drama workshops at Welsh prisons - Parc, Cardiff and Swansea - in November and December 2001. Funding from NESTA enabled them to hold two further weeks of workshops in Fevruary 2002, when they also brought in established actors - including Gates MacFadden from the USA (ST: TNG), and Enzo Cilenti and Sienna Guillory (The Time Machine) from Britain. A further two weeks of workshops were held in June and, with "more than half the funding circle now complete", filming may finally begin in March 2003. Alice says: "It challenges everyone. It challenges our preconceptions - about who Caesar was, about who the prisoners are, and it's certainly a challenge to the actors. It will be challenging to the audiences too, I am sure." Paul & Alice have also gained support from specialist film and theatre industry professionals, such as Japanese theatre and opera designer Tomio Mohri, the Royal Shakespeare Company's voice director Cicely Berry, and Karl Derrick, a member of the special effects team from Harry Potter. "These people have gone into the prisons with us first of all because of the script, on the basis of their artistic fascination with the project," says Alice. "But then they are so moved and involved by the nature of the prison experience thet they leave thinking about what can be done to make it more creative and productive. There's such an extraordinary reservoir of talent in prisons that's not given the space to express itself. The prisoners have such an enormous amount to offer, they have a passion and a candour that's intensely compelling. I'm an experienced actor and I learn new things about my craft from working with them. Every actor we take in comes out lit up by the process. There is an extraordinary charge, a creative flow that happens in the workshops, and will happen in the filming. It's a whole other layer of resonance." Prison Drama Workshops News Release 13 Jun 2002 - Warders and prisoners act together in film set in Welsh jail A series of workshops in Swansea and Cardiff prisons this week will lead into the filming of a drama based on the early life of Julius Caesar, with prisoners and warders playing roles in the film and the prisons art departments helping in scenery building. Preliminary workshops have already taken place across three Welsh prisons, funded by a £12,000 NESTA Education award. The project is the brainchild of actress Alice Krige (Star Trek: First Contact; Chariots of Fire; The Little Vampire) and her husband, director Paul Schoolman. The couple have previously run drama workshops in Dartmoor Prison, and now want to extend this successful model to three Welsh prisons: Cardiff, Parc and Swansea. Past workshops have identified and released talent, with some prisoners building on the experience to become freelance writers and playwrights. As well as Alice, the project involves many other well-known actors including Gates McFadden (Dr Beverley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Voice Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Cicely Berry. Karl Derrick, a member of the special effects team from Harry Potter will oversee the make-up, and all those non-prison staff involved in the workshops will offer work for reduced costs. Caesar will tell the story of the would-be Emperor's formative adolescence and young adulthood, a time when the future ruler of Rome was seen in the City as a failure, in debt and debauched. The film will give an insight into the social and political events that moulded Caesar, and show how he overcame the test of his youth to hone his political skills and mould himself into an Emperor. NESTA has supported two weeks of workshops at the three prisons where most inmates and warders will be welcome to attend. This work will be recorded and archived by a video team led by the acclaimed South African documentary filmmaker Chris Austin, and will be aimed at a general television release. The inmates themselves will also produce their own visual diary as a record of the event. NESTA is keen to support a project that places experienced actors and drama coaches with some of those most excluded from education, using an imaginative approach to communication in what is seen as a challenging environment. This project has the potential to create exemplars of new and effective learning practice and may unlock creativity and ability among prisoners in new areas. What's New This section tracks the awardee's progress since the making of the NESTA award, working backwards chronologically. We've tried to highlight particular successes as well as challenges to throw light on the development process. Any upcoming plans or events are also featured under 'Watch this space' at the end. For a brief timeline of the awardee and their project, go to the 'Milestones' page. April 2004: Going international Paul and Alice were invited to extend the project to a prison in Alberta, Canada by the Alberta Film Commissioner. The prisoners, staff and management of Drumheller Institute have embraced the project with great enthusiasm. One third of the prisoner population is native Canadian Indian. Many of them are barely literate, but their drumming and art skills are extraordinary and they have requested that they participate not only as actors but also as artists and musicians. The project has also gone to South Africa. Paul Schoolman ran workshops in Pollsmoor Prison, where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for a period of time. Up to a thousand prisoners were involved in the filming. All of them have shown remarkable physical prowess, acting ability and an astonishing capacity for concentration and focus, especially given the prison conditions, and their contribution will greatly enrich the film. The intention now is to film CAESAR in Cardiff Prison, Wales, Drumheller Institute, Alberta and in Pollsmoor, South African, with a cast principally composed of prisoners working alongside the actors like Sir Derek Jacobi and Charlotte Rampling, Sienna Guillory, Julian Glover, Gates McFadden – all of whom remain committed to the project. The team are also in the early stages of exploring the possibility of creating a series of interactive media educational packages for use in schools and prisons, based on CAESAR. Watch This Space - March 2003: Filming starts Having secured funding for the film in October 2002, Paul and Alice begin shooting their extraordinary movie project, more than 15 years after they first dreamt of the idea. "It's an extremely complex and challenging work, on so many different levels," says Alice. "It will be amazing after so much time to see it come together." Winter 2002: Preparation for filming With funding secured, preparations begin for filming, scheduled to start in March 2003. June 2002: Prison workshops Alice, Paul and well-known actors such as Gate McFadden, Enzo Cilenti and Sienna Guillory hold the latest intensive drama workshops in three Welsh prisons, preparing prisoners and prison officers for their roles in the film. South African documentary film maker Chris Austin is recording the drama workshop process for a TV programme to coincide with the film’s release. "It definitely won’t be a 'the making of' type thing" says Alice. "It's an insight into the nature of this type of work in prisons, the importance and the fascination of it." February 2002: Star Trek star beams in to help Actor and choreographer Gates McFadden, who plays Dr Beverley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, flies in to help with the NESTA-funded drama workshops in Cardiff, Parc and Swansea prisons. "Every actor we take in comes out lit up by the process," says Alice Krige. Source: NESTA.org.uk |
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