A former prisoner has claimed she only survived her time in jail thanks to a Newcastle theatre company.
Cheryl Byron was serving a two-year prison sentence at HMP Low Newton, near Durham, when she was first introduced to Open Clasp in 2013.
Ms Byron said before she began working with the theatre company, she had been so scared she had locked herself in her cell and would not speak to anybody.
The North East theatre company, whose productions are co-created “with women excluded by theatre and society” to give them a voice, was recently awarded four years’ worth of funding by Comic Relief as part of its Gender Justice Fund.
“This company came into jail and turned, not just my life around, but hundreds of other people’s,” Ms Byron said. “They really, really, did save me.”
Ms Byron’s daughter, Abigail, first met staff from Open Clasp while her mum was in prison.
“That was really comforting – to know that she had something in there that was taking her mind somewhere, and she wasn’t just sitting,” she said.
When Ms Byron first came out of prison, she felt lost and was aware her relationship with her daughter had changed.
The mother and daughter ended up telling their story on stage in a play performed by the Open Clasp company.
Their play, Don’t Forget the Birds, explored how prison and their time apart had impacted their relationship, and how the pair had re-established their mother-daughter bond.
“We toured it all over the country,” Ms Byron said. “It was absolutely fantastic.”
Open Clasp’s latest production – a one-woman show entitled Rupture, co-created with women from HMP Low Newton – was performed at Durham’s Gala Theatre earlier this month.
Catrina McHugh MBE, artistic director and playwright at Open Clasp, said women in jail had something to say, but too often their voices are not heard.
“Theatre is so powerful, and especially the way that we make theatre with co-creators,” Ms McHugh said.
“When we say changing the world one play at a time, we really mean it – and we have seen it over the last 26 years.”
