Shakespeare's Sonnets and young adults in the criminal justice system

  Working for Art in the Park, in partnership with the University of Sheffield and the Youth Offending Team, I recently finished working on a short project facilitating young adults in the criminal justice system to engage with, and respond to, Shakespeare's Sonnets.

  The project was a challenging one, and the most important thing for me was to make the work relevant to the lives of the client group. I chose to focus on Sonnet 144, providing both tether and free reign for the creative response, and the results are gritty and humbling.

  In Sonnet 144, the speaker relates a psychodrama, finding himself at the mercy of two 'angels', one good and one bad. The young adults followed on from this theme. An overview of the project, as well as a link to the work produced, can be found here on the Sheffield University website. I delivered the project in collaboration with artist Annie Beech, who facilitated a visual response the material (see below).