Background - LSW

On 25th November 1998 the LSW Prison Project was born.  Through the good graces of the late Sir Stephen Tumin, Her Majesty’s first Chief Inspector of Prisons, the LONDON SHAKESPEARE WORKOUT (LSW), a nationally registered charity founded on 26th October 1997 as a ‘gym for the Bard for professional performers’ by Dr. Bruce Wall and Dame Dorothy Tutin, undertook its first full programme within an adult UK prison.  This was simply an experiment.  It involved the mix of leading professional performers with inmates. It was a notable success.  LSW’s work began to flourish.

LSW seeks to employ the words/ideas of Shakespeare as well as those of other major dramatic, cinematic and musical thinkers/writers as a tool towards effective interaction in order  to (a) create new work and (b) promote confidence through the will to dream for all. 

Ten years of effective results have shown LSW’s unique production and educational techniques to be successful.  Lord David Ramsbotham exclaims."No organisation has a better track record in pure inspiration."

    

 

In 2005 alone LSW was privileged to directly interact with 3,311 inmates and 2,470 additional students (ranging from junior schools to Oxbridge) and 261 prison staff.  Each and every participant took active part alongside a total of 4,564 professional performers whose numbers have ranged from Fiona Shaw to Kevin Kline; from Samuel West to Richard Dreyfus.  A total of 223 graduates from Britain’s major drama schools were given their first employment in LSW programmes during 2005.  LSW additionally mounted four major productions both in prisons and West End Theatres that year.

 

   

Currently LSW is working on projects with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), The Metropolitan Police (London) and the Stratford Festival of Canada.  International incentives in 2006 have thus far included Bulgaria, Austria, Italy, Slovakia and the United States.  LSW additionally has run Drama Workshops in locations ranging from the House of Lords to Scotland Yard.  In tandem with the London Business School LSW currently operates the ‘Willing Dreams’ programme wherein corporate executives from major companies (e.g., Danone, Deustchebank, Shell Europe, Glaxo Smith Kline, KPMG, Ericcsson, Celtel, etc.,) work directly alongside offenders/ex-offenders/ community members/professional performers to break down barriers and discover new paths towards effective communication.  LSW proudly sits as the UK representative for the United Nations’ Arts Intervention in Criminal Justice Regimes Panel.

 

 Juliet Stevenson ....

   
 Kenneth Branagh ...

 

Kevin Spacey ...

 

Nicola McAullife ...

 

Harriet Walter ... 

 

 Sir Jonathan Miller ...

 

& Al Pacino ...

are just some of the household names that have lent their
support, time and practical talents to see that 
the London Shakespeare Workout (LSW)
and the LSW Prison Project
are a roaring success.

BLACK ATLAS' Darren Raymond & the legendary CLAIRE BLOOM