Captivating performance

An innovative prison theatre project run by HMP Winchester, in partnership with the University of Winchester, has been awarded a Koestler Trust Bronze Award. Last year's Stand or Fall was selected from nearly 6,000 entries by the Koestler Trust, the prison arts charity. Stand or Fall was written in 2008 by Brian Woolland, the playwright and director, specifically for the project. Annie McKean, project manager at the university's faculty of arts, said: "The difference that this work can make to everyone involved should not be underestimated. The experience is always uplifting and life-enhancing." This year, the theatre project put on The Convict's Opera, a play by Stephen Jeffreys.