From Cage to Stage: The Story behind Barred
VERA BELL talks to Dean Stalham about his latest venture
Dean Stalham is a refreshingly complex character – cynical and passionately earnest, self-deprecating and self-publicising, humorous yet serious. He is clearly, also, enormously talented. His play Barred His play Barred was due to be performed at Kino-Teatr in October. Unfortunately, it’s now been postponed, but will be eagerly awaited when it’s rescheduled.
It’s about two men in a British prison, less like Porridge than it could possibly be. “One prisoner is consumed with the idea of education, but he has a very negative cell mate. It’s interesting – dark and funny. When you see documentaries about prisoners on TV you see chaps sitting at a table, having a cup of tea, telling people what they want to hear. But nobody’s made a film (or play) about when the cell door shuts. Nobody hears that conversation. And sometimes you get two guys sharing a cell that totally don’t get on. It’s an amazing dynamic. On the stage it’s just me and Francis [Saunders] going bang at it. It’s going to blow people away!”
Stalham was sentenced to three-and-a-half years for handling stolen art works while working as an antique dealer. Having left school at 15, while in Wandsworth prison he got his head down and left there with an A-level in art and a BTEC in radio production. He says of himself that he’s a shining example of the possibility of rehabilitation. Of all the 1600 inmates of Wandsworth prison, only 13 men (he told me) can take an art course. He was one of these. “Since my first painting went up on display while I was inside, and then my first play went on at the Royal Court and got a standing ovation, I knew I was an artist from that moment on. So I live in the art world now. Not the real world!” he laughs.
What he has already achieved is, however, indisputably real. While still in prison, he interviewed Cherie Blair, broadcast on Woman’s Hour, “accessing the world from the prison radio”, he says, joyfully. Now, he has eight plays under his belt: they have been performed at the Royal Court, Hampstead Theatre, the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, and at the Edinburgh Festival. He has had a film on Channel 4 and a couple of episodes of EastEnders. “Now,” he goes on, “Barred is going to be my last play, because I’m heading into films! I made Barred the film down in Hastings and that’s being edited at the moment – it’ll be done by Christmas. And that’s a precursor to a feature film that I’m going to be making next.” The film has been shot by a Hastings cinematographer, Ben Cole.
He is generous in his praise of all the organisations and people who have been interested in Barred. For the set, they have used a replica cell that was made for the play a few years ago, and he is grateful to the Kino for allowing them to store it there and for showing the play. He also mentions Ray Gange, whose Rogue Gallery has now moved down Norman Road to number 42, and is due to show Stalham’s work in March 2025. Francis Saunders, too, who works with young offenders, has also been a great mentor and Stalham is delighted that they are working together in the play. He wasn’t supposed to be acting in it: “My lead actor had to drop out, and I ended up writing it, directing it, and acting in it!” He’s surprised, but unfazed, by this. Like his mentor, Saunders, Dean Stalham is a significant force, both locally and nationally.
Please see the next issue of HIP for more from our conversation, about prisons and prison politics. Barred will be coming to a local theatre in the near future.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply