Rumination-Reaction to Shakespeare Behind Bars

*I was going to do this one on another adaptation, but I decided to save that for my creative engagement.  So if you like comics, keep an eye out for that later this week.*

Okay I’ll admit it; I went into Shakespeare Behind Bars expecting some sort of a feel good documentary about the power of the arts (you know what I mean the kind that seem to do nothing but take away the power of the arts by preaching about it).  So I queued it up on Amazon and started watching.  I was absolutely floored.

Everything was just so dramatic.  I almost felt like I was watching a dramatic film and not a documentary.  The emotions behind each of the actors, these fallen and in some cases disgusting human beings, who somehow you grow to root for.  My first big shock came when Sammie told us what he was locked up for.  The whole time I was expecting a bunch of white-collar crimes, maybe some breaking and entering at most.  Instead we get a tear filled account of a man who felt trapped by the people in his life and who lashed, destroying someone he cared about (no matter how unhealthy the relationship he did care about her).

Then everything else follows.  Child molesting.  Double Homicide.  Cop Killers.  Drug Dealers.  Rapists.  This men have not done wrong, they have done evil.  There is something corrupted, broken inside of them, and they are dying to try and fix it.

And that’s what Shakespeare Behind Bars was all about for me.  It was using the classic plays as a channel through which these men could achieve a deeper understanding of themselves.  Each role went to someone who could relate to the motivations of the character and through attempting to live with the character they begin to learn to live with themselves.

I’ve always been fascinated by villains.  They are almost always the more interesting characters in movies, TV, literature, videogames (see: Iago, The Joker, GlaDos, etc.).  Yet we never root for the villains, not completely.  Yeah we don’t want the Joker to die, because he is the most interesting character in the movie, but we also don’t want him to beat Batman.

In Shakespeare Behind Bars, we are presented with a cast of caged villains.  On the surface, we shouldn’t give a damn about whether they enjoy performing Shakespeare.  They broke the law, they committed heinous acts of violence, they have killed and maimed people.  Yet I still wanted them to win out.  I wanted to see the play go off without a hitch.  I wanted Sammie to be let out.  I wanted Rickie to stay out of trouble and be given the chance to do Shakespeare again.

Shakespeare Behind Bars, both as a program and a documentary, do the Bard proud.  They show the humanity within people, they show us that men can sometimes be more than the sum of their actions.  Most of all Shakespeare and the documentary remind us that these are still men.  Human beings.  Ones who have made horrible mistakes, but they are still human beings.  This touch of the human is something I have always admired in the antagonists of Shakespeare’s plays, and I enjoy them all the more in this documentary.