This has a real feel of authenticity
Evan Placey’s Lifers is a play I’ve been looking forward to and a story close to my heart, writes Michael Holland.
Lifers tells the tale of Lenny, an elderly man serving a life sentence in HMP Drummond, where his fellow inmates realise he is becoming forgetful. Mark, the wing officer, has also noticed. The inmates are not his friends, they cheat him out of his winnings at cards. Mark, on the other hand, tries to help the prisoner, assisting him in getting dressed in the mornings, not shouting at him when he asks where he is and looks confused when told ‘You’re in prison’, and when Lenny thinks Mark is his son Simian, he plays along and talks about when he was young and Lenny was home being a father to him.
Lenny knows he is ill and tries to get medical help but the NHS in prison is in far more trouble than the NHS outside. Ibuprofen is the prescribed drug of choice for the overwhelmed prison doctor, whose unspoken rules are to keep costs down, so when Lenny tells her about terrible pains in the head and is offered Ibuprofen instead of a referral to see a consultant, his temper flares.
Mark pulls in a favour and gets the doctor to refer Lenny but she explains that it will cost £960 out of the prison budget, itemising each element of the bill.
Eventually, after a long wait, Lenny gets to go out to a hospital and the diagnosis is not good.
Mark is the screw who comes into the job with idealistic views to help prisoners and make them better people and society a better place. In due course, however, prison officers become beaten down by the system when they realise it is just an Us and Them world behind those walls. This play will open people’s eyes to life in jail – If they don’t already know… The audience was an interesting blend of the usual theatregoers and those with lived experience.
Ultimately, Lifers is about people and humanity.There are poignant moments in this piece, moments that make us question our own ability for compassion. Can we be kind to someone your heart and mind is telling you to despise? Not everyone has to make such a difficult decision, but when you do it is not easy.
This is a Synergy Theatre Project whose sole purpose is to break down those prison walls and give inmates a chance to get involved with theatre. Their involvement behind the scenes on Lifers has made it the great piece of work that it is for the actors on the stage who truly open themselves up for this – especially Peter Wight as Lenny.
Mark- James Backway; Norton – Sam Cox; Baxter – Ricky Fearon; Doctor – Mona Goodwin; Lenny – Peter Wight. Directed by Esther Baker.
Southwark Playhouse until 25th October.
Booking and full details: https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/lifers/
