#end. but it's also mentioned‚ in passing‚ how often the short term prisoners will reoffend and return to prison. the system is a broken one | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mariocki · 2 years ago

Text

Fay: The woman next door nearly killed herself last night.

Josie: Did she?

Fay: Yeah. I heard her. She's fractured her skull. I heard her through the wall. Sounded like someone dropping a sack of potatoes. She never made a sound.

Josie: Didn't she?

Fay: Not a peep. See what she was doing was falling off the radiator, over and over. She must've got herself up on the radiator and perched there like a seagull. Then she took a dive into the floor. Headfirst. Never put her hands out to break her fall.

Josie: That's... terrible.

Fay: It is. But you've got to admire her determination eh? Never put her hands out, headfirst into a stone floor. That's some death wish.

Rona Munro, Iron (2002)

#100plays #rona munro #iron #theatre quotes #suicide mention #death tw #modern drama #modern theatre #2002 #Munro's examination of the prison system comes‚ perhaps understandably‚ second to her study of generational trauma and the #relationship between Josie and Fay; a daughter and her mother‚ who killed her father #but it is there. bubbling underneath the familial drama is the question of what to do with murderers and whether imprisonment‚ as an #institution‚ is really anything more than a bandaid that can only punish and never rehabilitate #the dehumanising effects of incarceration are mostly alluded to in dialogue‚ second hand‚ and only once or twice (but very powerfully) seen #on stage. being locked up has done nothing to actually address Fay's crime‚ nor the fallout it has had on the lives of those affected; her #daughter Josie‚ her mother in law‚ herself. it's a kneejerk measure‚ an automatic response to a terrible crime with little philosophy or #psychology behind it. several times it is referenced how much easier the 'lifers' are to deal with; that in having no real prospect of #being released‚ they naturally settle into a more docile state without the uneasy desperation that comes with passing time you know will #end. but it's also mentioned‚ in passing‚ how often the short term prisoners will reoffend and return to prison. the system is a broken one #but it isn't something Munro ever feels the need to spell out. it's just a consistently humming backdrop against which #this particular story is playing out

2 notes · View notes