Jail Break - Set Free!

Ford Open Prison

We were delighted to hear from our good friend Jane about a recent performance of Jail Break at Ford Prison just outside Littlehampton in West Sussex.  This is the story:

"I regularly go into the prison to play piano for their Sunday evening service.  There are usually about 20 men there - it is good to play for them and to talk to them and hear their stories.

"Back in July we put on Jail Break at our own church - we had prepared for weeks and the performance went really well.  As we were working on it I thought that perhaps it would be something the men in the prison would like.  I asked, and the chaplain applied for permission.  It was passed, so long as we didn't call it 'Jail Break'!  After some conversation with Roger, we decided to call it 'Set Free'.

The chapel in the prison

"We took the same cast and choir into prison as had performed in our church, all except Quintus who was on holiday - my husband George took the part on instead.  We weren't able to have the wow factor of the previous performance like the smoke machine we used for the Jail scene, but we did have some lighting, the backing tracks and a PowerPoint presentation.

Instead of the usual 20 men, I was blown away to see 50 or 60 of them in the audience - I'd never seen the chapel so full.  And they loved it - they clapped and cheered, and in the poignant scene when the demonised girl was set free the atmosphere was electric.

At the end the chaplain gave a really good talk and appeal and we were able to pray with some of them.  A few more are coming to chapel on a Sunday evening now, which is amazing.

On my first Sunday visit after the performance some of them came and spoke to me asking if they could put a choir together for Christmas.  Sadly because of red tape we haven't managed it, but we're hoping to get something going in the New Year."


We are so thrilled to hear about how the musicals are being used. Praise God for all he is doing!