The 'La Boheme' Prison Project
{Costume Design - Musetta}
Combining rehabilitation and art, Opera Ireland worked with prisoners in Mountjoy Prison (Dublin) and Maiano Prison, (Perugia, Italy) to create the sets and costumes for La Bohème which was staged as part of the Winter Season 2006.
This innovative scheme was first devised in Italy in 2004 at the maximum-security prison of Maiano, Perugia.
Between January and June 2004 dozens of prisoners at Maiano Prison studied Puccini's opera and then created sketches for the scenes and the costumes, ending up with a theatrical presentation. After this first stage, Director Porzia Addabbo filmed a documentary entitled ‘Boheme al carcere di Maiano' about the genesis of the project at Maiano. Subsequently, prisoners at Dublin's Mountjoy Prison accepted the challenge to take part, together with the Maiano prisoners, for the second part of this project.
This extraordinary project, involving a first time collaboration and exchange between two European prisons for a common purpose, was confirmed when Emilio Di Somma [deputy governor of the prison administration at Maiano] spoke of the theatrical activity as a useful instrument for giving back freedom of thought to those who were temporarily deprived of physical freedom, and to give prisoners skills and abilities to be used professionally once they leave the prison.
Opera Ireland's foresight in bringing this project to Ireland [the first of it's kind in Ireland] is not unusual, as the company regularly finds new and inventive ways to stage its operas by making them more accessible to younger and mainstream audiences. In the last number of years Opera Ireland have worked with new, young Irish directors in opera and have successfully increased opera's appeal to the masses both in Ireland and on the international stage.
{Mountjoy Prison, Dublin}
Dieter Kaegi, Artistic Director of Opera Ireland commented that when he first saw the documentary about the Bohème project in Maiano prison said; "I was overwhelmed by the impact that opera can have on human beings. The growing interest and enthusiasm of the prisoners was amazing and I would hope that in a similar process, we can help more people in Ireland to discover their passion for this wonderful artform".
