'Shakespeare Inside' goes behind the scenes to reveal Shakespeare at work in the most decisive institutional contexts of our time - in the military, in prisons, and in schools whose populations are in some or other way segregated.
It is not an objective, dispassionate account of how Shakespeare is bastardised by repressive institutions but offers a record of fiercely personal experiences. We hear the Commander of Maxwell Air Force Base describe why dropping bombs is more fun than Shakespeare; the Director of the Alabama Shakespeare festival explain the likeness of George W Bush and Macbeth; ex-offender Mike Smith detail how playing Desdemona was vital to his rehabilitation; and the Education Director of the LA Shakespeare festival recount how their 'Will Power' program saved a teenage girl from brutal initiation into a gang. It probes any assumptions we might have about Shakespeare's performative function and asks what - if anything - is the proper place or function of Shakespeare in today's society.
