| Dean Stalham
Dean Stalham is a writer, an artist and an Arts Assistant at the Koestler Trust; he is also an ex offender who has been to jail twice, first in 1994 for two years and then again in 2004 for three and a half years.
It was during this second spell 'inside' that he developed an interest in the arts. He saw a play and was encouraged to write one himself, he was urged to enter it into the Koestler awards, it won and the play was performed at HMP Wandsworth in front of over 200 people, inmates and staff alike. This was all the encouragement he needed to know that he would never again return to his life of crime.
The year after winning the Writing for Stage award he entered a piece into the Mixed Media section; this was called Sporadicity, this piece received a Highly commended Award and was the catalyst that led Dean to the Koestler Arts Centre. After a phone call to the Koestler Trust and a conversation with Director Tim Robertson, Dean headed to the Koestler Arts Centre to see his work. When asked if he would like to include the piece in the Probation Services Centenary Exhibition he readily agreed, and well, the rest is history.
Dean was offered a job as an Arts Assistant on a voluntary basis in February 2007 and this led to a full time position. He has spoken at the ICA and has staged two plays: Sporadicity (after the painting) was staged at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington and Sentimental was performed at the Union Theatre in Southwark.
Dean is currently one of the playwrights involved in ‘Prose and Cons’, a series of short plays written by four serving offenders and two ex-offenders. One of the writers of ‘Prose and Cons’, John Wrigglesworth currently in HMP Shepton Mallet wrote,
“When Koestler and the Union selected some of my work to be performed I was stunned. I a world where everything is bad something as positive as this is hard to grasp…Koestler has built up so much self esteem in prisoners that I believe they are the most effective rehabilitation weapon in the prison system today”
‘Prose and Cons’ will be performed at the
Union Theatre from 3rd – 21st June.
Tickets are £12 (£10 for concessions),all Tuesday tickets are £8.
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