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Partners: Geese Theatre Company (Birmingham, England) and aufBruch (Berlin, Germany)
Image © aufBruch
“Geese Theatre Company and aufBruch are long established leaders in prison theatre in their countries. This partnership will explore our different ethos and methodologies, to learn how different techniques might work in different social and political environments and how artists are trained and supported to deliver this challenging work.
The aim is to get to know the working methods and approaches of the partners better through exchange and communication, and build a connection, raising the profile of this specialist arts sector.”
Geese Theatre Company and aufBruch
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In June 2024, practitioners Daniel and Becky from Geese Theatre Company visited aufBruch where they attended rehearsals and the performance of aufBruch's Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) by Bertolt Brecht at Tegel Prison.
Read more about the exchange visit to Berlin in Daniel's blog.
About the partners
Since 1987, Geese Theatre Company has been at the forefront of arts in criminal and social justice settings, having pioneered the use of theatre in prisons and probation in the UK. We devise and deliver bespoke groupwork projects, performances and training events which have a lasting impact on participants, harnessing the power of theatre to encourage positive change. The company is renowned for its ability to engage with some of the most resistant and disengaged populations within the prison system and well known for its unique use of mask in performances and groupwork. We create innovative projects and performances, working with diverse participants with multiple and complex needs, improving wellbeing, rehabilitation and recovery. We work across the UK in secure settings including prisons and secure children's homes, and are one of the only arts organisations working in secure mental health hospitals. Geese is a member of networks working to recognise, strengthen and develop participatory arts, including Calouste Gulbenkian Sharing the Stage and BAC Co-Creating Change Network.
https://www.geese.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/GeeseTheatre
https://www.instagram.com/geesetheatre
https://www.facebook.com/GeeseTheatre/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/geese-theatre-company/
aufBruch
aufBruch is an independent Berlin theatre project, which explores social and political processes and cycles artistically in its work. For eighteen years, aufBruch has worked continuously in Berlin’s Tegel Prison, for ten years in the Berlin’s Juvenile Detention Centre, for four years in Plötzensee Prison and for the last year in the newly built Heidering Prison, both of which are also closed men’s prisons. Through creating high quality artistic events and performances, the aim is to give prisoners a language, a voice and an identity, teaching the craft of acting, and creating the possibility for an encounter between inside and outside free of prejudice. aufBruch’s work is performed by a large ensemble made up of prisoners on the stage and an artistic team experienced in theatre from outside leading the project. Audiences of the general public attend performances in prison, many entering a prison for the first time. It sees its theatre as thought-provoking, inspiring people to reflect on the issues and as the basis for a respectful encounter between criminals and the rest of society, both members of a European society.
https://www.gefaengnistheater.de/home_en.html
https://www.instagram.com/aufbruchberlin
