Act V

In listening to the Act V from Chicago Public Radio, I got a look into the subculture of inmates who take part in the performing arts. The episode followed a reporter who watched and analyzed criminals in a high security jail as they prepared for their performance of Act V of Shakespeare’s legendary play Hamlet.
The Missouri Eastern Correctional Center is the field site of this subculture, and a perfect one at that. In watching the inmates at this correctional facility, the reporter is able to view the "actors" prepare for their play, in which they come from one hard core setting and move into the rehearsal space, a place where they have to change characters completely.
The reporter conveys to listeners how difficult it must be to be a good actor especially in trying to be one while being an inmate at a jail. As the reporter points out, "being a good actor is the exact opposite of being a successful inmate." According to him, an actor must be vulnerable, but an inmate is someone who lacks emotion and looks tough.
There is a hierarchy system in jail, one inmate illustrates, and all of those who act are the ones at the bottom of the chain. At first, those inmates that wanted to take part in drama were abused by the bigger inmates. That was until “Big Hutch”, one of the guys who stood at the top of the hierarchy, was cast as the role of Horatio. Before then, someone like “Big Hutch” would have never associated themselves with the “actors.”
Through his interviews the author allows listeners to understand what makes these hardened criminals such good actors and how they bring the characters to life. Unfortunately, most of them take from their past experiences, which are not good ones. One criminal says that what helps him was the fact that he understands how it feels to really want to hurt someone. Too bad he has experienced really hurting someone. He also conveys to the listeners how much the convicted actors have a grasp for the story. They practically understand the story better than any one else outside the jail. As the author points out, as many times as he had seen Hamlet, he did not really know it all.
What is important for those in the subculture is to do their roles correctly, and they do. What is also pointed out is how each man, all of them in prison for some horrific crime, tries to illustrate how they have changed. They all have the “that was me then, this is me now” attitude on the outlook of their present situation. It appears to be important for all of them to separate themselves from what they used to be.